Though Ghana have never played Serbia, they did play the former Yugoslavia in a friendly in 1997, losing 3-1.

Serbia lost all three group games in their only previous World Cup appearance in 2002, conceding 10 goals.

Ghana’s only previous finals appearance came in 2006 where they won two of three group games before losing 3-0 to Brazil in the second round. Matthew Amoah was Ghana’s top scorer in qualifying, bagging five goals in seven appearances.

Serbia scored seven goals from corners during qualifying, at least two more than any other side in UEFA.

Only Burkina Faso (who failed to score), had a lower shots-to-goals ratio than Ghana at this year’s ANC (7.4%), even though they reached the final. All three of Ghana’s wins at the Africa Cup of Nations were by a score of 1-0, as was their final defeat.

Milan Jovanovic scored five goals in eight appearances for Serbia during qualifying.