Ghana held to draw ahead 1-1 with Australia World Cup 2010

Ghana held to draw ahead 1-1 with Australia at the top of World Cup the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday. The Ghanaians moved a point above Germany and Serbia after fighting off a determined bid by the Australians, who lost striker Harry Kewell to a red card in a sensational first-half penalty incident.

The Australians, trying to rebuild their World Cup campaign after a shattering 4-0 first-up loss to Germany, now have the tough task of trying to beat Serbia on Wednesday and hope Germany are beaten by Ghana to reach the knockout round.

Australia, which lost Harry Kewell to a straight red card in the 24th minute, took the lead in the 11th. Forward Brett Holman slotted in a rebound after Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson had saved a free kick from Mark Bresciano.

Kewell was red carded for handling on the line of Gyan's fierce goal-bound shot - the ball hitting his upper arm. Italian referee Roberto Rosetti immediately pulled out the red card as Kewell and his Australian teammates remonstrated his decision.

Gyan sent Mark Schwarzer the wrong way with his penalty attempt to level the game and leave Australia to play a man down for the remainder of the match.

Australia got a lucky break early on when attacking midfielder Brett Holman, replacing the suspended Cahill, scored off Mark Bresciano's free kick in the 11th minute.Bresciano's free kick cleared Ghana's defensive wall and the ball bounced awkwardly off goalkeeper Richard Kingson's chest into the path of Holman, who tucked away the rebound for his third international goal.

Coach Pim Verbeek brought on Scott Chipperfield and Josh Kennedy to go up front with 20 minutes left as Australia searched for the winner. The Australians took the game to Ghana and had a glorious chance in the 72nd minute when both Luke Wilkshire and Kennedy fired their shots at Kingson with a goal beckoning.

Ghana went into the match without skipper John Mensah, who failed a late fitness test and was replaced by teenager Jonathan Mensah, while centre-back partner Isaac Vorsah was left out for Lee Addy.

Ghana captain John Mensah and fellow defender Isaac Vorsah were left out because of injuries, and coach Milovan Rajevac said that was a factor in the opening goal. ''Instead of two defenders, we had to use two young players,'' Rajevac said. We got off to a bad start, conceding a goal. After that, we started to fight.