June 12, 2006 - Italy 2 - 0 Ghana

Michael Essien #8 Ghana 31 Game Honors Full Report > Player Power Ratings   Full Player Report Italy  2    Totti 20   Perrotta 20   Toni 20   Nesta 17   Pirlo 16   Cannavaro 15   Grosso 14   Gilardino 9   Zaccardo 8   Buffon 7   De Rossi 7   Camoranesi 6   Iaquinta 5   Del Piero -1     Ghana 31 Essien  20 Kingston  18 Mensah  12 Kuffour  10 Pantsil  9 Muntari  5 Amoah  2 Appiah  2 Gyan  2 Addo  -3 Pappoe  1 Shilla  1 Pimpong  0 Tachie-mensah  ITA Totals 163 110 GHA Totals In Italian soccer, it has always been more important not to lose a game than to win a game. The cost of defeat is just too great. This is true domestically and particularly in the World Cup. Forget about it. Italy and Ghana have played the most entertaining and exciting game of the opening round to date. It was full of marvelous attacking soccer. Both teams had Power Ratings over 100. Italy’s 163 Power Points tops all teams to date by 25 points with Germany a distant second at 138. The Italians came at Ghana from all over the field. Three players had Power Ratings of twenty. Totti, Toni, and Perrota. But the Power Player of the Game was Michael Essien with an astounding 31 Power Points from eight Shots, and three On Goal . In the end, Ghana’s one man band was not enough overcome the Italian orchestra. Italy prevailed 2-0 scoring at the end of each half.