Ghana are poised to become the first African team to reach the World Cup semi-finals, thanks in part to a Serbian coach whose discipline has the Black Stars shining bright.
Ghana, Africa’s last hope among the six teams that began the event, have booked a quarter-final match-up against two-time winners Uruguay on Friday.
It will be only the third African appearance in a World Cup last eight after Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002.
“Ghana are now among the eight best teams in the world. This is fantastic,” Rajevac said. “The most important thing is to know how to compete so Ghana will manage to go further. There’s a lot at stake. We will try to play well.”
Rajevac has made a believer of US coach Bob Bradley, who gives Ghana a fair chance to topple Uruguay and put an African team in the final four in the first World Cup on African soil.
“Ghana is a talented team,” Bradley said. “Milovan Rajevac has done a good job organizing the team. They will have a tough game against Uruguay, but they are a team that’s capable of moving on.”
With Chelsea star midfielder Michael Essien sidelined by a knee injury and limited roles for veterans Sulley Muntari and Stephen Appiah, the Black Stars have relied upon Kevin-Prince Boateng and Asamoah Gyan in attack, but Portsmouth playmaker Boateng is doubtful because of an injury and both Dede Ayew and defender Johnathan Mensah will miss the match against Uruguay after picking up their second yellow cards of the tournament against the US.
“It’s going to be a huge problem to get him ready for the next game, but we will do our utmost to get him ready,” Rajevac said of Boateng. “This is the major problem we’re facing against Uruguay, the cards and the injuries.”
Some of the credit for Ghana’s improvement after a run to the round-of-16 in 2006 belongs to Rajevac.
“He has done a lot for Ghana,” Ayew said. “We have done better than four years ago, which is important for us. Tactically, we are sound. Technically also.”
Rajevac, appointed in 2008 without major club or international experience, is a former defender for Yugoslavia who played in the 1979 UEFA Cup final with Red Star Belgrade, with coaching stops in China, Qatar, Sweden and Germany.
“I had great success in Serbia,” he said. “I was going from one success to another and now I have a new opportunity.”
Rajevac, the 10th Ghana coach in the past six years, took tiny clubs Vojvodina and Borac into the UEFA Cup. His focus is upon his players and their determination in tough times, such as the extra-time against the hard-pressing US.
“My players had the force and the strength to continue, and go to the end and win,” he said. “Both teams deserved to win, but only one team could. In the extra-time we needed the strength and we had the strength.”
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