Another twist in the struggle over Gerald Asamaoh's international future was played out on Thursday night in Mulhouse with the Ghanaian-born striker playing for Germany's B team in a friendly against France B. Asamoah has been the subject of a long-standing tug-of-war between Ghana and Germany.
He has turned down several invitation to play for the Black Stars while holding out for a potential international future with Germany.
The Schalke 04 striker did his chances of making Rudi Voeller's future World Cup selections no harm at all with a sterling performance in Germany's 2-1 away win.
He was facing a French side that included several players of African heritage - Frederic Kanoute of West Ham (Mali), Vikash Dhorasoo of Lyon (Mauritius) and Ousmane Dabo of Serie A side Vicenza (Senegal.)
Asamoah, making his B team debut, came close to the opening goal in the 12th minute.
And he was involved in several other promising moves before being substituted in the 72nd minute by Marco Gebhardt of Eintracht Frankfurt.
Ghana turned down
The 22-year-old is still eligible to play for Ghana because Thursday's match was not a competitive international.
Akonnor failed to persuade Asamoah to choose Ghana
But Asamoah's decision to turn down Ghana and agree to play for coach Horst Hrubesch's German B team would indicate he is likely to keep up his hopes of playing for the full German side one day.
Ghana's former captain Charles Akonnor, who plays in the German Bundesliga for VfL Wolfsburg, had several discussions with Asamoah in recent months to try and persuade him to throw in his lot with Ghana's World Cup cause.
But all the efforts proved unsuccessful, and Ghana's slim chances of making the Finals now will hardly help.
Asamoah, born in Ghana but now a German citizen, played previously at Hannover 96 and Werder Hannover before joining Schalke at the start of the 1999/2000 season.
He has scored twice in 21 Bundesliga matches for title-chasing Schalke so far this season.