Good afternoon. At what point does a dark horse become a thoroughbred? Before every tournament we get a collection of teams who are tipped to surprise everyone, and eventually all the talk of upsets and shocks and trickiness leads to them becoming feted way above their actual abilities. Already in this tournament we've seen Uruguay contribute to the dankest match so far (before the Algeria v Slovenia match at least), so it is with some trepidation that I utter these words: Serbia could be a team to watch out for this summer.

True, they were similarly billed before the last World Cup and went out with barely a whimper, their only contribution being to act as innocent bystanders as Argentina waltzed in the goal of the tournament. But still. They topped their qualifying group ahead of France - ok, maybe that's not an actual achievement these days - and they have several very decent players: Nemanja Vidic, Branislav Ivanovic, Dejan Stankovic and Milos Krasic come to mind. Also look out for Liverpool-bound Milan Jovanovic, who's been extremely impressive whenever I've seen him for Standard Liege. Everyone expects a second-round tie between England and Serbia but I'm telling you - they could win this group ahead of Germany.

None of this should detract from Ghana however. They were one of the most daring teams of the last World Cup and I felt they were unlucky to lose to Brazil by three clear goals in the second round. Their group match against the Czech Republic was a particularly joyous occasion. A lot of this team played in the team that won the U20 World Cup last year, so there's every reason to expect them to be tough opponents. No Michael Essien though.

The teams are in:

Serbia: (4-4-2) Stojkovic; Ivanovic, Vidic, Lukovic Kolarov; Krasic, Stankovic, Milijas, Jovanovic; Zigic, Pantelic.

Ghana (4-4-2) Kingson; Pantsil, Mensah, Vorsah, Sarpei; Annan, Asamoah, Ayew, Boateng; Asamoah Gyan, Tagoe.
Referee: Hector Baldassi (Argentina)

Serbia line up much as we expected them to, in a conventional 4-4-2 formation. That looks like a very strong defence to me, and there's a lot of creativity in that midfield. Ghana will have to watch Milos Krasic coming in off the right flank too - he's probably the most talented player this game has to offer. It's something of a surprise that no Premier League clubs are in for him this summer. A move to Juventus is mooted.

As for Ghana, they've left Stephen Appiah and Sulley Muntari on the bench. In the ITV studio, Marcel Desailly confidently predicts Ghana to win.

This game is on ITV so let me apologise in advance if for any reason I'm unable to report on a goal for you.

I'm in a packed office so I'm wearing headphones - I know it's tiresome to complain about the vuvuzelas, I do. I'll just say they're quite loud and be done with it.

National anthems: Both sung heartily with vim and vigour. I preferred the much jauntier Ghana number to the more serene Serbian effort. The former appeared to floor the Ghanaian goalkeeper Richard Kingson emotionally, who could only stand in silence with his eyes closed. That's the sort of patriotic pride we like to see. Watch and learn England fans!

Peep! Ghana kicking from right to left get us underway. And what a farcical effort it was as they immediately give the ball away, surrendering possession to Serbia who stride forward ominously, before Marko Pantelic spanks an effort high and wide from 30 yards out.

2 min: This is a really bright start by both sides. After Lukovic headed a cross out of the Serbia area, the ball fell to Annan just outside the area and his speculative volley squirted wide as Stojkovic dived more out of a sense of duty than anything else.

3 min: Nemanja Vidic appears to have mistaken Prince Tagoe for Fernando Torres. A bright burst from the Ghana forward flummoxed the Manchester United defender and Tagoe threatened to slink straight into a confronation with Stojkovic before Vidic scythed him down with a thuddering challenge. Free-kick to Ghana just outside the D, but Asamoah Gyan's right-footed effort isn't about to trouble anyone keeping score.

5 min: An early email: "Kingson, third choice at wigan, does not inspire confidence, but boy can these boys play when they want to," says Kwame Cinquez. "Come on Ghana!" Kingson's never seemed like the surest pair of hands to me. But then I can hardly talk. I'm English and so is Robert Green.

7 min: After that blistering early start, the teams have settled into a more prosaic style of play now. Serbia are enjoying more of the ball and appear to be favouring the hoofed ball to the 6ft 8in Nikola Zigic up front. That could become very tiresome very quickly.

8 min: Serbia won a free-kick on the left and with Dejan Stankovic apparently set to whip the ball into the area with his right foot, he suddenly turned the ball round the corner of the wall impishly for Jovanovic to race into the area and cross a ball which was headed away by a Ghana defender. Apologies for the delay, I've just been having a few technical issues.

10 min: Ghana get their first corner but Gyan's ball in sails over the heads of all those waiting. This Jabulani really does have some mileage doesn't it?

13 min: A riposte from Kwame Cinquez: "I'm English too! But that does not mean I cannot have an opinion on Ghana. This game is already looking good." What I've learned here is that one should never assume.

16 min: Sorry, I'm having loads of technical problems at the moment and just lost a load of text - I'll repeat part of it later, but what did happen a couple of minutes ago was Kwadwo Asamoah, from the left, driving a fierce effort into the heart of Serbia's six-yard box, but luckily for them Nemanja Vidic managed to divert the ball away for a corner which came to nothing in the end. Asamoah's cross-shot could have gone anywhere though.

18 min: A booking for Nikola Zigic after bringing down Dede Ayew as the Ghana player went hurtling down the left flank. I believe that's what they call a forward's challenge. Free-kick to Ghana...

19 min: ... And John Mensah heads Asamoah's teasing delivery a few yards wide at the far post. Mensah castigated himself for the miss, he obviously felt he should have done better despite the pressure being put on him by various Serbia defenders.

21 min: Ghana are the better side so far. They're bright offensively and are enjoying the majority of the ball. From Kevin-Prince Boateng's curling cross from the left, Asamoah Gyan was mere inches away from adding the lightest of flicks that would have caused a big problem for Stojkovic in the Serbia goal. As it was the ball was just too high for Gyan, allowing a presumably relieved Stojkovic to collect easily.

23 min: I've never seen Marko Pantelic play before and my first impressions of him aren't great. Just now he had the ball just inside Ghana's half, and simply allowed it to run out with barely a defender in sight. And on that subject Niels Dekker writes: "Ah, only the 6th minute of the game, and there's the good old Pantelic, as I know him from his club Ajax. Always cheering and applauding to his passing teammates, especially after a bad pass. The man is just reacting annoyingly positively."

25 min: There's an injury worry for Asamoah Gyan, who's been limping around and is now having treatment off the field after a heavy challenge from Branislav Ivanovic. Ghana are down to ten men for the time being and it would be a massive setback for them if they lose Gyan, who has been causing several moments of disquiet in the Serbian defence. So they've gone and put in a reducer on him, seventies style.

27 min: Ghana can breathe easy. Gyan runs back on after a consultation with the magic sponge. Serbia look dangerous from set-pieces and appear to have a number of routines ready. Nenad Milijas took charge of a free-kick forty yards from goal. It looked like he was going to shoot, but changed his run-up as he approached the ball and clipped it to the far post to Pantelic, who couldn't control the pass despite losing the Ghana defence.

29 min: Most of Serbia's threat is coming from set-pieces. This time Kolarov steps up to a dead ball, but his left-footed curling effort swings wide with Kingson comfortable. More worryingly for Ghana, Gyan still doesn't look fit.

32 min: "Perhaps the droning grating monotonous noise is not from vuvuzelas," parps John Martin. "Maybe we have just discovered what has happened to all the bees reportedly missing in the UK. They are all on a jolly to watch the World Cup."

34 min: One feature of this World Cup so far has been the complete absence of, well, goals. Only South Korea have managed to score more than one so far, and we've also had a goalless draw. At the moment it's hard to see precisely where a goal is going to come from in this game. It's become quite low-key with neither side able to sustain any sort of fluency. Can anyone remember such a low-scoring start to a World Cup?

35 min: "I'm watching the game in Nazcivan, on the Azerbaijani/Iranian border and swear a roar went up outside when Asamoah belted one towards goal," reports Daniel Owen. "I've been laughed at by Azeris from the hills today on England's result." All together now - aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

36 min: The game is getting poorer; the vuvuzelas are getting louder. It's like having 1000 bees going at it in my ears. Ah, and there's definitive proof that everyone's bored with this game - here comes the Mexican Wave.

37 min: Nikola Zigic can perhaps count himself a little lucky to still be on the pitch. He's already been booked for one foul and he halted a promising Ghana counter-attack with a foul that he managed to make clumsy rather than cynical, which is probably just as well for a big man who doesn't look like he has a very good touch.

38 min: Why are people always surprised when a big man has a good touch?

39 min: A first shot on target from Serbia and it nearly caught out Kingson, who made something of a meal of Dejan Stankovic's simple shot, allowing it to squirt out of his hands and up into the air. Fortunately for him there was no attacker on hand to make anything of it and he held the ball at the second attempt.

41 min: Not much is happening. Scott Murray's just asked me if anything memorable has happened so far in this World Cup? I couldn't offer him much apart from, well, Robert Green. It's always Robert Green. Aren't we all sick of Robert Green now. I've got to watch him at least 38 times next season too.

44 min: I think Milos Krasic has touched the ball once.

45 min: "The most notable thing after 130' of "action" today‏, begins David Lindores promisingly. "The name on the back of John Pantsil's shirt appears to read 'PANSTIL'... maybe I need 3D glasses to see that it is spelt properly?" If you like spelling-related gags, you'll love this. There'll be two minutes of the added stuff.

45 min+ 1 And there's half-time. Hector Baldassi blows his whistle. The fans continue to blow those vuvuzelas. Say what you want about them but it takes extraordinary stamina and commitment to play those things for 90 minutes. Ghana will be the happier of the two sides, although both teams have fashioned the square root of what's in Tim Lovejoy's head in terms of goalscoring opportunities.

A few half-time emails:

"After watching the first half of this game and looking ahead at the German and Aussie squads, I'm beginning to worry that group D may end with no one scoring across any of the group matches," writes Joshua Britton. "Hard to see any player as a genuine goal threat." The Germans do, but they've all had unconvincing seasons with their club sides.

"Is it me, or are the first round matches in the World Cup getting cagier and cagier?" asks Nicholas Higgins. "FIFA should seriously consider the possibility of reducing the amount of teams in the next WC to at least 20."
"I'm sitting in a car in Queen Mary's hospital car park, waiting for a scan on my knee injury which kept me out of Capello's final 23," says Alex Cochrane. "Just realised that I'm of an age now that means I'm never going to play in a world cup. Scary."

"It's a bit premature to call this WC low scoring, looking at the fact that most of the attacking flair is in the latter groups (D-H)," writes Gadi Abraham. "The two first days of the 2008 Euros were also pretty naff, but that's because the teams called Holland and Spain were in the latter groups. You forget that the WC is irritantly long. Just the group stages take two weeks!"

That's very true Gadi. This tournament really needs Holland and Spain to get involved, or a decent match between Portugal and the Ivory Coast perhaps. The first day was pretty exciting to be fair, but today's fare is sapping the life out of an already tired man.

We're off again as Serbia kick off, kicking from right to left. That always sounds odd to me. I always like the team kicking off to kick from left to right. Is that weird? I think that's weird. Help!

47 min: Clive Tyldesley is talking about Manchester United.

48 min: Is the signing of Milan Jovanovic Rafael Benitez's final prank on Liverpool Football Club? He's been anonymous so far and hasn't provided any opportunities for Zigic or Pantelic, not that you feel confident about that pair taking them.

49 min: I was worried there - it was almost the minute-by-minute reporter's curse. Kolarov slammed a ball towards goal which deflected into the path of Jovanovic, who jinked and tricked his way into a shooting position ten yards from goal, but luckily for my reputation, if such a thing exists, his effort is currently flying somewhere in the vicinity of the Pretoria skyline.

52 min: These dull World Cup games seem a lot more entertaining in my Beijing apartment," says Martin Zatko. "Poor TV reception is altering colours in the bottom half of my screen, making it appear that four teams are on the pitch simultaneously - I'm currently watching Serbia v Ghana v Coventry City v South Africa's rugby union team. Yesterday was even more fun, since half of the Argentina team were apparently clad in yellow-and-cream stripes, leading to the bizarre vision of a Smurf-blue Lionel Messi wearing a Newcastle away shirt. Way more fun than goals." You can always rely on Newcastle.

54 min: That was the best chance so far and Dede Ayew really should have scored. Prince Tagoe drifted in from the right flank, and with his right foot he scooped a glorious cross to the far post where Ayew put a free header past the near post from just eight yards out.

56 min: Ghana are making all the running now and Serbia are pathetically lily-livered so far. Ghana just want the ball more, and threaten again through Ayew, whose run at the Serbia defence has them backtracking frantically. Shame about the shot though. High. Wide. Not very handsome.

57 min: I'll might have to eat my words in a few hours, but for all the German players to have had unconvincing seasons?" writes Wulf Englert. "I beg to differ there. Özil with a pretty convincing U20 win and quite a few goals at Bremen, Schweinsteiger in the Champions League final, Marin, Müller also with a decent number of goals between them. It's just our strikers (particularly Klose and Podolski) who have had a rather Heskeyesque season so far." But Wulf. We were talking about goal threat. So I was thinking about the strikers, Klose and Podolski.

59 min: Nikola Zigic is shaking his head. He has the look of a man who can't quite believe he hasn't converted Stankovic's cross at the far post. He didn't even make proper contact with the cross and ended up diverting the ball away from goal. The big galoot.

60 min: So close to a deserved opener for Ghana! John Pantsil's long throw was met by Asamoah Gyan whose downward header had Stojkovic beaten. I thought it was about to nestle in the back of the net, but instead the ball bounced inches wide of the near post.

61 min: And again Ghana nearly break the deadlock, Tagoe at the far post firing Ayew's deep cross miles wide on the volley.

63 min: Serbia make their first substitution - Milijas went off... and I'm not sure who came on. You'll get nothing but professionalism in these parts, that's why we keep pulling in the punters.

65 min: Zdravko Kuzmanovic it was who came on for Serbia.

67 min: Ghana are very impressive right up until the moment they approach the Serbia area. Then they either make the wrong choice or are strong-armed away by a burly Serbian defender. Ghana lack a bit of knowhow in attack, but everything else about this team has been a delight to watch. Fresh, youthful and enterprising, just like I used to be.

69 min: Nikola Zigic, ten yards from goal, heads over from Stankovic's cross. It was slightly too high for the big striker - it's a day for firsts. And that's his final contribution today, as he trots off to be replaced by Danko Lazovic.

72 min: Bartholomew Motes has just sent me this very amusing link to the New York Post front page.

74 min: Red card for Serbia! Aleksandar Lukovic receives his marching orders for hauling down Asamoah Gyan just inside Serbia's half. Apparently he was booked in the 54th minute. I missed it and so, it seems, did everyone else.

75 min: I'm not entirely sure why he's been sent off - I didn't see the first yellow card. This is farcical. Neven Subotic, a defender, comes on to fill the gap vacated by Lukovic. He replaces Jovanovic. Just before the red card, Ghana also brought on Stephen Appiah for Kwadwo Asamoah. This is a real chance for Ghana now.

79 min: The ten men nearly nicked it there! Lazovic broke away from Pantsil on the left goal-line and cut the ball back to the middle of the area - the hapless Pantelic missed his kick, but Krasic was waiting and his fierce left-footed shot was tipped over smartly by Kingson. From the corner, Vidic powerfully heads just over. Given his prowess in the air, he probably should have hit the target.

83 min Penalty for Ghana! A blatant handball by the substitute Kuzmanovic is rightly punished by Hector Baldassi.

GOAL! Serbia 0-1 Ghana (Gyan, 84) That was unerring from Gyan. The forward has been Ghana's most threatening player all game and he gave Stojkovic no chance from the spot. Stojkovic went to his left, the ball was slammed high to his right.

86 min: The handball from Kuzmanovic was foolishness in the extreme. There was no threat whatsoever from Ayew's cross far to the right of Serbia's penalty area and despite the presence of Boateng behind him, Kuzmanovic had no reason to stick out his hand to divert the ball.

88 min: Since they scored, Ghana have somewhat lost their heads and Serbia have had a couple of chances to equalise, not least when a loose ball fell to Kuzmanovic, who blazed over. No reprieve for the least popular man in Serbia right now.

89 min: Prince Tagoe is booked for shooting wide after the referee had blown up for offside.

90 min: Michael Ballack's mate Kevin-Prince Boateng is replaced by the defender Lee Addy.

90 min +1: That was nearly the game. A Ghana counter-attack leads to Gyan breaking away from the Serbia defence - he opened up his body to curl the ball into the bottom corner with his right foot, but his shot, having beaten Stojkovic, bounced back off the post. And with that, he's replaced by Quincy Owusu Abeyie.

Peep! Peep! Peep!: And there's the final whistle! Jubilant scenes as Ghana pick up the first win for an African side at this World Cup. Serbia will be kicking themselves. They just imploded in the final 15 minutes.

Post-match thoughts: Well that was a sensational end to an otherwise very dull match. Serbia were a monumental disappointment. Their supposedly creative midfield opted not to show up, and their reliance on long balls to Nikola Zigic were tiresome in the extreme. I've just seen the handball again and it's still impossible to fathom why Kuzmanovic did it - ok, Boateng was behind him but the Serbian could have chested or headed the ball. And Boateng would have had a very difficult chance anyway. I can clear up the red card now - Aleksandar Lukovic was booked just after the Ayew headed chance early in the second half. The referee had actually played on after Lukovic fouled Gyan and then brought play back to book him. The second booking was obvious too, so there can be no complaints. Ghana deserved the win, they were highly competent. Maybe they're the dark horses. Who tipped Serbia? Some buffoon. Maybe there are no dark horses. Anyway that's all from me now, thanks for all your emails. Scott Murray will be around later to take you through Germany v Australia.