Harry Kewell (no10) conceded a penalty and was sent off after the ball hit his arm on the line

One of football’s enduring one-man soap operas enjoyed another rumbustious episode in Rustenburg when Harry Kewell’s brief World Cup odyssey ended in drama and recriminations and left his Australia team-mates to earn a remarkable battling draw against Ghana without him.

The former Liverpool star, who had only played two minutes of football in six months because of injuries, was drafted back into Australia’s team in their desperate bid to salvage their World Cup hopes after the humiliating 4-0 thrashing by Germany. They did so, but ultimately without Kewell.

One of the most mercurial figures in the world game, Kewell, who had waged war with the Australian press before the game about their panning of the team, lasted only 23 minutes before he was sent off for handling a Ghanaian shot on the line and he only departed after loud protests.

The Black Stars, who had been one down to an early Brett Holman goal, scored an equaliser from the resulting penalty taken by Asamoah Gyan, leaving the Aussies to then produce a notable backs-to-the wall effort to earn a draw.

Indeed, they even came close to winning the game on a couple of occasions, the performance offering them some redemption after the withering criticism they have taken back home in the past week.

They are still alive. Just. The point gives Ghana leadership of the group by a point but, in the 100th World Cup finals match to be played by an African nation, the Black Stars were left frustrated by Aussie bloody mindedness as they failed to land the win which would have given them a foot in the last 16.

Now, following Germany’s shock defeat by Serbia on Friday, there is still everything for all four teams in Group D to play for, with Serbia to play Australia in Nelspruit and Germany meeting Ghana at Soccer City.

Australia had been effectively forced to gamble after the Germany hammering, with Verbeek making four changes, including the restoration of a pair, Kewell and Mark Bresciano, who knew the way to goal.

The decision, in tandem with the Ghanaians having to reshuffle their defence with the injury sustained on Friday by their captain, Sunderland’s John Mensah, prompted a brisk start from the Socceroos, with Kewell quickly in the thick of the action, claiming he had been brought down for a penalty by Lee Addy after just a couple of minutes.

When the Australians struck after 10 minutes, though, it was through yet another of the goalkeeping blunders which have blighted the tournament.

This time, though, there could be no blaming of the Jabulani. After a surging run from Carl Valeri had been halted by a rash challenge from Anthony Annan, Bresciano hit a tame-looking free kick from just outside the box which Richard Kingson should have snaffled comfortably from the bounce.

Instead, the keeper scooped it up in front of him and saw it bobble out of his hands before the alert Brett Holman to volley home the gift.

The Socceroos’ perfect start, though, swiftly descended into nightmare territory after 23 minutes when terrific scrambling work from Andrew Ayew saw him win a ball at the byline which he had no right to and cut back for Jonathan Mensah to smash the ball goalward.

With Schwarzer well beaten, the ball crashed from eight yards into Kewell’s upper arm and chest as he stood on the line. There was really no time for him to react and it was one of those decisions which seemed impossibly harsh but there as no real alternative for the experienced Italian referee, Roberto Rosetti, to both award the penalty and give the Galatasaray man a straight red.

Naturally, Kewell didn’t see it that way, and he was still protesting vigorously for several minutes even after he had made the slow trudge to the touchline and the Ghanaians were already celebrating Gyan’s perfectly executed penalty conversion with an equally perfectly executed dance routine.

Eventually, Kewell was ushered away by a FIFA official, with his team-mates, who had already seen another key man Tim Cahill sent off against Germany, now having the wretched handicap of having to play over 100 minutes of their first two matches with just 10 men.

They had been brutally criticised back home for the “un-Australian” crime of surrendering tamely against the Germans, but though they could not be criticised for that here, they were inevitably on the back foot after the Kewell sending off.

Kevin Prince Boateng forced one save at full stretch from Schwarzer just before half-time while, after the break Gyan became more menacing, flashing one shot across Schwarzer’s goal which only just evaded his onrushing colleagues and then, put through expertly by Boateng, crashed another just wide.

Yet Australia this time wouldn’t lie down, just a nation would have surely have demanded. Scott Chipperfield should have done better with one goal-bound header, while, minutes later, both Luke Wilkshire and another sub Joshua Kennedy squandered glorious opportunities to put them in front again. Ghana had the best chances to seal the win in the dying minutes, with former

Arsenal starlet Quincy Owusu-team-mates coming closest as he forced a superlative last gasp save from Schwarzer.