PRETORIA, South Africa — The first World Cup on African soil was meant to highlight the continent's growth as a soccer power.

But it has also focused a spotlight on an area where Africa is lagging — the coaching ranks.

Although six of the 32 nations in this year's tournament are from Africa, Algeria's Rabah Saadane is the only coach who was born there.

In fact, Sunday's Serbia-Ghana match alone had twice as many coaches from Yugoslavia, a country that no longer exists, as the entire World Cup has coaches from Africa, the world's second-most populous continent.

That used to be a sore subject in Ghana, where fans were hoping a homegrown coach would get a chance to direct the national team when Frenchman Claude Le Roy quit two years ago.

Instead Ghana turned to Milovan Rajevac. And if anyone is still unhappy, they're keeping it to themselves because Rajevac has the Black Stars believing they can go far in this World Cup, a journey they started Sunday with a 1-0 win over Serbia on a penalty-kick goal by Asamoah Gyan with five minutes left in a Group D opener.

The goal also gave Africa its first win in its World Cup, something Ghana recognized with a flag-waving postgame celebration.

"Every African," Gyan said, "is behind us."

Even Rajevac, who had to become something of an honorary Ghanaian during the run-up to Sunday's game against a team from his native land.

"I am 100 percent Ghanaian," he pledged.

Well, not really. As defender Ibrahim Ayew joked, the team had to teach their coach what African soccer was all about.

"He used to make us play more defensive. But for the Black Stars, our play is not defensive," Ayew said. "We always attack. We play like the African Brazilians."

And while they didn't always play well Sunday, they played well enough to turn a pair of late Serbian mistakes into a victory.

The first error came in the 74th minute, when defender Aleksandar Lukovic was sent off for a second yellow card, leaving his team to play short-handed. And that may have led to the second mistake, when defender Zdravko Kuzmanovic, trying to cover some extra ground, appeared to misjudge the unpredictable flight of the World Cup match ball. When the ball bounced off his wrist instead of his head, Argentine referee Hector Baldassi awarded a penalty shot.

Gyan made it sting even more when he took a deep breath, then lined a right-footed shot just under the crossbar.

It was hardly a convincing win, but you wouldn't have known that from listening to the confident Ghanaians afterward. Four years ago Ghana upset the U.S. and advanced to the second round in its World Cup debut. They say that won't do this time.

kbaxter@tribune.com