Afriiye Barnieh’s brace wins day for Black Meteors
Striker Daniel Afriyie Barnieh turned hero for the Black Meteors as he scored twice to help Ghana beat Mozambique 2-1 in their Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Estadio Nacional do Zimpeto in Maputo on Sunday.
Two second half goals ensured an important victory which enhanced Ghana’s chances of progressing to the third round of the qualifying competition as they have home advantage on the return encounter at the Cape Coast Stadium next week.
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Coach Tanko Ibrahim’s charges put their best foot forward right from the early stages of the game by trying to engineer space to find the opening goal without success.
By the 25th minute the hosts gave their fans some hope when they made their first real threat to the Black Meteors’s goal area but defender Aaron Essel made a timely intervention to deny them what could have been an opening goal.
Daniel Afriyie Barnieh's goals gave Ghana an advantage in the first leg match in Maputo
Five minutes later, Barnieh could have broken the deadlock when he came close to scoring but watched in agony as his effort narrowly missed the target.
The Meteors continued their push for a goal after recess, making their host to sweat under series of foray into the Mambas’ goal area until they capitulated to the pressure.
Opener
After 20 minutes into the second half, Ghana was awarded a penalty which Hearts of Oak forward Barnieh easily converted to hand the Meteors a deserving lead.
After taking the lead, the Ghanaians did not take their foot off the accelerator and continued to search for more goals with the Meteors launching a number of onslaughts into the goal area of the Mozambicans.
In the 75th minute the Black Meteors stretched after being rewarded with a second penalty, which Barnieh dispatched with perfection from the spot to give Coach Ibrahim Tanko’s side an advantage late into the game.
However, the Mozambicans kept fighting hard to avoid any further embarrassment in front of their home fans and got a consolation goal in the 88th minute through a rebound shot.
