Burkina Faso crush Ghana’s CHAN dreams
Ghana’s Black Stars team B yesterday failed to qualify for the Championship of Africa Nations (CHAN) competition after they were stunned 2-1 by their Burkina Faso counterparts at the Baba Yara stadium.
Advertisement
Coach Kwasi Appiah’s charges went down by two goals before the 25th minute mark, and had to fight hard to claw a goal back after recess.
The Black Stars who went to the game with a 2-2 draw game from the first leg in Ouagadougou last weekend have been booted out of the competition on a 3-4 aggregate, and for the second consecutive time would not make the roll call to the competition to be hosted in Kenya.
It took just seven minutes for Barro Adams to silence the partisan home crowd when he shot the Stallions in front from a goal mouth melee by placing the ball beyond the reach of goalkeeper Joseph Addo who had moved off his lines.
From then the Black Stars B recoiled from the shells and mounted pressure on their opponents, but it was the Burkinabes who once again took advantage of the weak defence of the Ghanaian team to punish them again when Nikiema Hemans increased the tally.
The Stallion did not relent as they kept pushing for more goals with Kabore Yousouf effectively controlling the midfield to free the attackers, but they were not clinical in their finishing.
After recess, the Black Stars shuffled their style of play and mounted pressure on the visitors in search of a goal. That moment came in the 59th minute when substitute Felix Addo headed home from a Winful Cobbinah’s free-kick
The Ghanaians were buoyed by the goal and continued to create chances, but could not convert them, and the resolute defense of the Burkinabe also occasionally thwarted the Black Stars team B effort.
To ensure that they went home with the maximum points, the Burkinabes resorted to delay tactics and went down at the least contact.
Their antics forced referee, Bienvenu Sinko to issue a yellow card to two Burkina Faso players after they prevented the Red Cross medical team from carrying their injured team mate out of the playing field.
In an attempt to find the equaliser, the Black Stars continued to mount pressure and dominated the exchanges but they could not find the target, leaving the Ghanaian fans disappointed after the finals whistle, while the handful Burkinabe supporters burst into jubilation after the match.