A brace by Kwabena Adusei through spot kicks in the second and 85th minutes, and a simple tap from Latiff Mohammed in the 77th minute gave the local Black Stars a 3-1 victory over their Teranga Lions counterparts of Senegal in the grand final of the GOtv WAFU Cup tournament played at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi Thursday.
The victory, which came the hard way, reinforced Ghana’s determination to host and win the competition in spite of the stiff opposition from the Senegalese, who proved unyielding throughout the game.
Winning all their group matches by scoring a total of nine goals with only one against them, Senegal proved that they had an all-round team poised to stretch the Black Stars.
Defender Kwabena Adusei converted a spot kick to put Ghana ahead as early as the second minute after Sulley Mohammed was brought down in the box.
Undaunted by the early goal, Senegal pushed more men forward with Mendy Dominque, Sarr Sidy and Sagna Richard combining beautifully upfront, while Mboji Mamadou, Seck Mbaye, Thylor Wade Cheik and skipper Gomis Roger built a wall to ward off the onslaught from the Stars attack.
In the 16th minute, Ghana almost increased the tally against the run of play through Yahaya Mohammed, but the Rastafarian mistimed his kick in the box, giving the opponents a relief.
Two minutes later, Yahaya Mohammed missed another glorious opportunity which re-awakened the Senegalese to begin to fire from all angles.
In one of their attacks in the 22nd minute, Roger Gomis outwitted his markers and raced deep in the area of Ghana, firing a bullet which beat goalkeeper Stephen Adams for the equaliser.
Two minutes later ,Sarr Sidy should have increased the tally for Senegal, but after entering the box and firing a low grounder, goalkeeper Adams stretched to deny Sidy.
Senegal continued to pile pressure on Ghana and in one of their attacks in the 32nd minute, Keita Mamadu Lamine, who was in a good position to score clashed with goalkeeper Adams, injuring the keeper in the process to be replaced with Foli Addae.
The two teams made changes in the second half with Ghana slightly on top and stringing their passes together, but found it difficult to penetrate the defence of their opponents.
With the supporters urging them on, the Ghanaians responded and succeeded in increasing the tally in the 77th minute when Latif Mohammed tapped in a loose ball floated in by Theophelous Annobaah.
The Senegalese protested vehemently, claiming that the goal was scored from an offside position but referee Jerry Yekey from Liberia stood his grounds.
In the 85th minute, Ghana scored their third goal through another spotkick by Kwabena Adusei when Sulley Mohammed was brought down in the box.
Down by three goals, the Senegalese lost their temper and resorted to rough-house tactics, a situation which caused the referee to flash out his red card at Thioune Ousseynou for an ungentlemanly behavior.
