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World Cup - Ghana

Black Stars shine at last

Ghana's historic journey to their first FIFA World Cup™ finals began with a comfortable qualifying victory over Somalia, a 7-0 aggregate success that sent the Black Stars into the group stage.

There they were drawn with 2010 FIFA World Cup hosts South Africa in Group 2 and after opening their campaign with a 1-0 defeat in Burkina Faso, they signalled their intent by beating South Africa 3-0 in Kumasi on 20 June 2004, a famous victory secured by goals from Sulley Ali Muntari and captain Stephen Appiah (2).

They topped the group for the first time in September 2004 after beating Cape Verde Islands 2-0, again in Kumasi – now considered their lucky ground – but their momentum faltered following the sudden departure of coach Mariano Barreto, who quit to take over at Portuguese club Maritimo.

Sam Arday held the reins for a short time before the Serbian Ratomir Dujkovic took charge in late 2004. His reign began with a draw against Congo DR but after scraping a 2-1 home win against Burkina Faso on 5 June 2005, the Black Stars were back on track. A memorable 2-0 success in South Africa a fortnight later restored them to the top of the group. A place in Germany was now within reach and they held their nerve to beat Uganda before stamping their ticket in style with a 4-0 victory over Cape Verde in Praia.

Read more at: FIFA World Cup - Yahoo!