Ghana became the first team through to the final of the inaugural African Nations Championship after beating Senegal on penalties in Wednesday's semi-final.Substitute Kwadwo Poku scored the winning kick in the lengthy shoot-out, which Ghana won 7-6, after the semi-final in the northern Ivorian city of Bouake ended 1-1.
The Ghanaians will now meet either DR Congo or Zambia in Sunday's final in Abidjan.
With a capacity crowd of 25,000 packed into the Stadium of Peace, Ghana opened the scoring after Yaw Antwi tapped in after Rahim Ayew broke free down the left and crossed for his colleague.
Although Ghana were looking the better side, Senegal equalised just four minutes later as Alpha Oumar Sow pounced from six yards as a free-kick came off the wall.
Ten minutes from time, Ghana's Harrison Afful thought he might have won it with a fine 20-yard strike but Senegal goalkeeper Mamadou Ba pulled off a terrific save.
After extra-time ended with no further goals, it went to penalties.
The first man to crack under the pressure was Senegalese midfielder Vito Badiane, whose effort was well saved by Philemon MacCarthy.
That just left Poku to step up and slot home to the delight of his team-mates.
Source:BBC
No comments:
Post a Comment