It was like a repetition of last year’s consolidation match of AFCON when Mali settled much optimistic Ghana on the fourth place on Saturday. Black Stars finished their AFCON 2013 journey in the same fashion as they did last year. Mali secured third spot in the tournament which is not a bad performance either. Notably, Mali has not won any AFCON title in the last thirty years, and this year too, it could not overcome Nigeria in the semis, but despite that, even a third place in a tournament is not bad for any team. For Ghana, it is more than a defeat this time, coz they have been playing in the semis for last four years but could not win the title. This year, they were overshadowed by Burkina Faso in the penalty shootout in the semis. This is the first time Burkina Faso has entered into the finals of Africa’s highest soccer event. Factually, Ghana has won four AFCON titles till date and their last triumph was in 1982, while for Mali, their best of the event was in 1972 when they … [Read more...]
AFCON 2013, Ghana is a tough challenge for Mali, Niger, and DR Congo
African Cup of Nations 2013 is on the cart, and every team is recollecting its resources to win the title. As of now, all the group teams have been finalized and most important group of them is Group B where Ghana is placed along with Mali, Niger, and, DR Congo. Ghana is obviously a toughest challenge for other group participants, or perhaps other teams of the event. Even DR Congo’s coach: Claude Leroy has accepted publically that facing Ghana is a real challenge for them, despite the fact that he is training DR Congo’s team since last many years. Notably, this would be Leroy’s seventh spell in AFCON and he is still skeptical of his team’s victory in presence of Ghana. His comments about Ghana are also important coz he himself has trained them from 2006 to 2008 in the past, so he understands them very well, especially in their flagship tournament they will do everything they can to claim the title. Group B’s first match will be in January between Simbas and Black Stars. On the … [Read more...]
Ghana Qualifies for African Cup of Nations’ Finals
Black Stars of Ghana became the fourth team to quality for the 2013 African Cup of Nations to be held in South Africa in 2013. Ghana beat Malawi by 1-0 at Civo Stadium and secured 3-0 aggregate score to rank itself in the top four qualified teams. Other qualified teams till date are: Nigeria, defending champion Zambia, and Ivory Coast. Among them, Ivory Coast qualified despite their abandoned match against Senegal due to crowd trouble on the ground. Basically, the match between visitors Coast Ivory and hosts Senegal was decided on benefit of doubt given in favor of Coast Ivory after crowd disturbance. Actually, Coast Ivory was leading the game with 2-0 score when Senegalese reportedly start attacking visitor fans along with lightening fire in Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium. Police was then called by the ground authority, perhaps police had to use tear gas to control the wild Senegalese. When it became impossible to continue the match, it had been abandoned and Ivory Coast was rewarded … [Read more...]
France 2 – 0 Ghana at U-17 Women’s World Cup Semi’s
Ghana is ousted by France in the semifinal smashing all their hopes to reach in their first world’s cup final. Ghana has evolved as the promising contender for the title after defeating the most favorable tournament winner: Japan in the quarterfinal. But in semi’s, France beat them comprehensively by 2-0 margin and march its army to play in the final. Despite defeat, Ghana became the first African team to be among top four in a world cup. Priscilla Okyere, the captain of Ghana, was highly optimistic to win this match, but it was not one of his luckiest days and he could not make the history. France fired both goals in both playing sessions and their numbering player for both goals was striker Diani Kadidiatou who scored these goals in 31st and 89th minutes respectively. Jane Ayieyam’s red card became the setback for Ghana and gave France a desired advantage as well. Overall, it was the day of 17 years old Kadidiatou Diani, the scorer of both goals, that contributed greatly to take his … [Read more...]
Ghana’s Surprise Entry to U-17 FIFA Women’s Words Cup’s Semis
This could be an unforeseen and unbelievable loss for Japanese, but it’s true that Ghana has beaten them by one to zero in U-17 FIFA Women’s world cup to reach in the semis for the first time. Ghana beat their Japanese colleague in a nail biting match at Azerbaijan where Sherifatu Sumaila scored the only goal for Ghana in the 53rd minute to conceive a victory for them. This goal perhaps was the mistake of Japanese goalkeeper, coz he could not grab the low shot hit by Sumaila which could have been grabbed by him generally. Throughout the game, right from the beginning to the end, Japanese ruled the game, but 53rd minute goal changed the momentum into Ghana’s favor. With this win, Ghana aka Black Maidens have become the only African side to enter into the semis of a Women Word Cup in the history. This historic win takes them to Baku for their Semifinal clash with France. France has beaten Nigeria in a penalty shootout by 5 to 3 to reach in the semis. More precisely, Ghana’s victory … [Read more...]