Bring it on, Morocco!
Ghana’s Black Meteors set up a mouth-watering fixture against hosts Morocco in the ongoing under-23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament after beating Congo 3-2 in a nail-biting game at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco, yesterday.
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The Black Meteors are joint leaders with Morocco who also fought back to beat Guinea 2-1 in their opening Group A game last Saturday.
Ghana were lucky to bag the maximum points as they survived a late onslaught by their opponents who scored two late goals in added time through substitutes Yann Ngatse and Reich Kokolo after the Meteors took a 3-0 lead and allowed complacency to set in their game.
FC Nordsjælland winger Ernest Nuamah set the tone for what promised to be an avalanche of goals in the second half when he latched onto a pass from substitute Emmanuel Yeboah in the 50th minute to tap home for the opener, before Yeboah scored a brace in the 74th and 80th minutes.
Ghana made a poor start to the game and had few scoring chances in the first half apart from the seventh minute when Nuamah made a promising run on the flanks to square the ball into space but could not get his teammates to connect home.
For the most part of the half, Coach Ibrahim Tanko’s charges looked jittery whenever they came close to scoring and could not even utilise set pieces to find the target.
One of their best chances to score from a set piece came in the 19th minute when forward Fatawu Issahaku was brought down just at the edge of the Congolese penalty box, but the free kick was wasted. Ten minutes later, Nuamah was also awarded a free kick at the same spot, but the ball was kicked off target.
Six minutes before recess, the Congolese looked a settled side as they dictated the pace of the game with Exauce Nzaou making a dangerous run down the flanks to spot Claude Ngongara whose connection drew a great save from goalkeeper, Ibrahim Danlad.
Ghana were determined to get the opener before recess and decided to attack from the middle with Issahaku locating Captain Daniel Afriyie Barnieh in the box but his back-heeled pass to Sylvester Simba was well read by the Congolese defenders who snuffed out the chance.
After the Black Meteors attack failed to produce a goal in the first half, Coach Ibrahim Tanko reshuffled the team and introduced Yeboah and Ibrahim Hafiz for Barnieh and Simba, respectively, substitutions which proved very effective.
Just five minutes on, Yeboah was spotted with a long pass and after sprinting with the ball past his markers, he laid a pass across the face of the Congolese penalty box into the path of Nuamah who timed his run well to score with a tap-in.
The Congolese fought back in search of the equaliser and in that desperate effort they often failed to provide cover for their goalkeeper Dhody Bissila and allowed the Meteors forwards led by Yeboah to exploit the situation with counter-attacks to catch them off-guard.
Fourteen minutes later, Yeboah extended Ghana’s lead to 2-0 after he was put through with a long pass, cutting into the Congolese penalty box before he slotted the ball beneath the outstretched body of goalkeeper Bissila.
Bissila was early caught off guard again in the 63rd minute but was saved by the goal post after Issahaku’s adventurous shot from around the centre-line bounced off the crossbar with the entire Congolese defence ball-watching.
