Boateng was selected as part of the Ghana squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa by head coach Milovan Rajevac, to fill in for the injured Michael Essien alongside defensive midfielder Anthony Annan. On 23 June, he was selected to start in Ghana's game against Germany, whose team included his brother Jérôme Boateng. Ghana held Germany to a 60th-minute lone goal and 1–0 win. It was the first time that two brothers played on opposite teams at the World Cup. Boateng picked up the ball from the half-way line, dribbled it "rapidly bamboozling" his opponents before scoring with a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area in the fourth minute of a 2–1 win over the United States in the round-of-16 in Rustenburg's Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace on 26 June.