 A Ghana fan celebrates the Black Stars' victory in Johannesburg |
Ghana beat former Group Two leaders South Africa 2-0 in Johannesburg on Saturday to go top of their 2006 World Cup and Cup of Nations qualifying group.
The Black Stars stunned their opponents with goals from Matthew Amoah and Michael Essien to deservedly inflict South Africa's first World Cup qualifying defeat at home.
The win lifts the Ghanaians to fifteen points, the same as South Africa, but the Black Stars go above Bafana Bafana since they have a better head-to-head record.
After DR Congo's 2-0 defeat in Burkina Faso, Ghana can clinch a place in their first World Cup finals if they beat Uganda at home and Cape Verde away in their remaining two qualifiers.
 |  We had a couple of chances in the first half and made life difficult by not taking them |
South Africa missed injured midfielder Quinton Fortune and suspended striker Benni McCarthy, whose absence was highlighted when Shaun Bartlett squandered two good chances to give the home side the lead.
After fifteen minutes, Bartlett latched onto a long through ball from midfielder Stephen Pienaar but shot narrowly wide.
This chance was harder than the one South Africa's leading goalscorer missed just before the half-hour as he sent a close-range header wide of the Ghanaian goal when unmarked.
Amoah made the South Africans pay for such profligacy after 61 minutes when he stabbed home an incisive cross from Ghana captain Stephen Appiah, who looked dangerous throughout down the right-hand side.
As the match neared full time, Michael Essien doubled Ghana's lead when he headed home from six yards after the South African defence failed to clear Appiah's free-kick.
 South Africa's Benedict Vilakazi goes past Ghana's Michael Essien |
Ghana and South Africa could have been caught at the top of the table by DR Congo had the Simbas won in Burkina Faso on Saturday.
Yet the Congolese went down 2-0 in Ouagadougou after Saidi Panandetiguiri struck after four minutes and Moumouni Dagano doubled the Stallions' lead midway through the second half.
DR Congo now have twelve points, three less than Ghana and South Africa who, despite being the 2010 World Cup hosts, are in danger of missing out on next year's finals in Germany.
Elsewhere, Cape Verde's hopes of qualifying for their first ever Nations Cup finals were dented by a lacklustre 1-0 defeat to Uganda in Kampala.
The tiny island nation, who had played so well when losing 2-1 at home to South Africa earlier this month, rarely repeated that form and were undone by a first-half goal from Godfrey Sserunkuuma.
Late in the match, the Cape Verde squad reacted angrily when denied what they thought was a penalty.
Cape Verde stay fourth in Group Two with ten points, while Uganda reach seven points to move off the bottom.
MMIX
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