Captain Asamoah Gyan showed leadership by example by scoring two late goals to save Ghana’s Black Stars from a possible defeat to Turkey to earn a 2-2 draw in an international friendly match played at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul yesterday.
Turkey took a commanding 2-0 lead, but the Al Ain striker came from the bench in the second half as replacement for Portugal -based Christian Atsu to lead a comeback by scoring twice within a 15-minute interval to hand Coach Kwasi Appiah’s side a deserved draw in a match which saw AC Parma youngster Rahman Chibsah and goalkeeper Razak Brimah make their international debut as second half substitutes for Mohammed Rabiu and Adam Kwarasey respectively.
The home side settled into the game early and struck first in the seventh minute after Burak Yilmaz punished the Black Stars for poor marking after the Ghanaian defence failed to clear a corner kick, leaving the midfielder to ghost past his markers to fire a low in the penalty box beyond the reach of a stranded goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey, who returned to the starting line-up for the first time this year.
The Turks dominated the exchanges and increased the lead in the 28th minute through Umut Bulut who headed home a cross from the left after a quick counter-attack which caught Ghana’s defence napping.
Coach Appiah continued to ring in the changes with the introduction in the 53rd minute of midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah for Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, while Daniel Opare took over from Samuel Inkoom in defence two minutes later.
In his hunt for goals, Appiah replaced Adiyiah with former Hearts of Oak hitman, Mahatma Otoo, and handed Chibsah his debut on the hour mark as Ghana took the game to the home side until Gyan reduced the deficit with a world-class strike in the 62nd minute after sprinting with the ball on the left side of attack after a long pass from goalkeeper Brimah, cutting into Turkey’s goal area before firing the ball into the net to begin the rescue mission.
Ghana’s captain completed the fightback in the 76th minute when he headed home an Opare cross to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat — his 37th goal in 74 international appearances.
Source: Daily Graphic
