Les Éléphants Move Past Weakened Ghana, Into Quarters

While Ghana came into this tournament depleted,  the weakened side Milovan Rajevac started against Cote d'Ivoire told us one of two things.  

First possibility:  Ghana is not taking this tournament that seriously and will use their two matches to get an idea of which young players will round out their roster for South Africa.  

Second, Ghana is putting all of its eggs in the "beat Burkina Faso on Tuesday" basket, resting players (like the late-arriving, injury-recovering Michael Essien), and are content with second place in the group.

Those are the only explanations that come to my mind considering a Ghana team that was already without Sulley Muntari, Stephen Appiah, John Pantsil and John Mensah left Essien, Asamoah Gyan and Anthony Annan on the bench.  

Essien and Gyan would come on in the second, and Gyan would add the Ghanaian's consolation goal, but it was not enough to prevent a 3-1 loss.

Cote d'Ivoire got goals from Gervinho (23', from Salomon Kalou), Siaka Tiene (67', a 32-meter direct kick), and Didier Drogba (89', a header finishing off great work from Abdul Kader Kieta), rebounding from the clean sheet Burkina Faso held against them on Monday.  As a result, Cote d'Ivoire advances to the quarterfinals, having to wait until after Tuesday's Ghana-Burkina Faso match to know if they will win Group B.

Here is that group's table.  More analysis after the jump: 

While this was an impressive result for the Ivorians, Ghana's selection needs to be considered.

They left four starters off their Cup roster. In their first match, three more starters were started on the bench. Of the players on the pitch, goalkeeper Richard Kingson, defender Eric Addo and striker Matthew Amoah have been consistent contributors to Ghana's best squads. Midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah and defender Samuel Inkoom are on the verge of being the same. Those are the five Ghanaians who I would expect to be in a Rajevac lineup when the Black Stars want to win the match.

Against the tournament's most talented side, the results were predictable.

The first goal caught the young Stars on a counter, with Yaya Touré, Salomon Kalou and Gervinho creating the opener. As counter attacks go, it was something off a practice pitch - both perfectly executed and lightly resisted.

After that goal, a Ghana team that saw very little of the ball in the match's opening moments became more competitive. They were able to move the ball down the flanks, particularly their left (with Agyemang Opoku frustrating a to-be-red-carded Emmanuel Eboué).

Ghana created a chance for Matthew Amoah in the second which would have tied the match had the host been three more inched to the right of Boubacar Barry's right post.

A stunning free kick from Tiene and a Drogba insurance tally put the match out of reach, with a gifted penalty kick allowing Asamoah Gyan to get the Ghanians on the scoresheet.

Though Cote d'Ivoire is through to the quarters, there are still questions as to how well they are playing. Arguably, they showed more fluidity against Burkina Faso, though they failed to score in that match, and Burkina Faso's tactic may have distorted appearances.  Regardless, Cote d'Ivoire has yet to give a performance commensurate with their talent - the type of performance that made then the tournament's favorite.

While that merely puts them in the same boat as (say) Cameroon, it makes them susceptible to a team like Egypt. If the Pharaohs have their act together, they will beat a dull Cote d'Ivoire.

But given what we've seen from Group A, there is a diminished chance this Ivorian team - even if they are not "firing on all cylinders" - will not make the semifinals.

Group B will get paired with Group A in the next round. Whether Cote d'Ivoire finishes first or second, they will play a relatively easy opponent in the Round of 8. Cameroon is not a possibility, nor is Egypt.

Perhaps this is why Ghana elected to rest some of their stars. With very little consequential difference between finishing first or second in Group B, Ghana may have elected to give Essien a rest, saving him for Burkina Faso.

With Essien out of the line-up, why not also let some of the other kids get valuable experience against a Ivorian side you know will be taking the match seriously?  That might have been Rajevac's thought, though I have a pretty good reason why one might want to avoid that approach:

Because they might not beat Burkina Faso.

Ghana is one of the continent's three best teams, but as we have learned through the first six days of Cup of Nations, the perceived gaps between levels of African teams are smaller than previously thought.

Thanks to their loss to Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana will now be eliminated from Cup of Nations should they draw Burkina Faso. In considering the likelihood of that happening, all you have to do is look back to what happened to the Elephants on Monday.

That Burkina Faso performance may have been emboldened by familiarity, but they is still capable of getting a point from Ghana.

By withholding their best lineup against Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana is implicitly taking the chance that Burkina Faso can not replicate Monday's performance.

Even more than their lineup selection, that chance may be the biggest indicator that Ghana is already looking toward South Africa.