Stars for CHAN final

A 10-man local Black Stars Wednesday cruised to the final of the CHAN, beating rivals, the Super Eagles of Nigeria 4-1 on penalties after 120 minutes of goalless drawn match.

Michael Akuffo, Theophilus Anobaah, Abeiku  Ainooson and Asiedu Atobrah all converted from the spot for Ghana as hero of the day, goalkeeper Stephen Adams, saved Kwambe’s kick to set up a rematch between Libya for Sunday’s grand finale with Libya.

The Black Stars went straight into attack early in the first minute with Anobaah surging from the flanks but failed to find the target just after Seidu Bancey watched in agony as his volley missed the target narrowly.

But just when Ghana appeared to be in the driving seat, Ibrahim Abubakar gave them the reality check in the 11th minute with a bicycle kick before unleashing a long range screamer from just outside the centre circle in the 27th minute which beat goalkeeper Stephen Adams but ricochetted off the woodwork.

Ghana’s dominance began to weigh heavily on the Super Eagles as Anobaah, Jordan Opoku and Bancey fed Yahaya Mohammed who failed to live up to the billing with a pedestrian performance on the day. He made way for Samuel Afful in the second half.

Soon, the Nigerians settled with a brief moment of pressure but relying on long shots, most of which went wide with dangerman, Abubakar getting the better of the strikes.

The Super Eagles maintained their dominance in the early minutes of the second half and in the 52nd Ede shrugged off pressure from Ghana’s defensive pair of Sulley and Kwabena Adusei to blast wide a fine opportunity in the box much to the relief of the Ghanaians.

Shortly, Adusei was made to take an early shower in the 63rd minute after a second yellow card offence for a clumsy tackle, but the Black Stars managed to hold on with the impenetrable defence checking the onslaught of Joshua Obaje.

Both coaches Stephen Keshie and Maxwell Konadu introduced some fresh limbs yet fatigue was visible with the Ghanaian side as Keshie’s Eagles mounted pressure on the Black Stars but could not utilise their chances to send the game into extra time.

The Stars were reeling on the back foot throughout the extra time until Stephen Adams pulled a point-blank save in the dying minutes of the game to earn Ghana its 19th draw against Nigeria in their 44th  competitive game.

Earlier, Libya beat Zimbabwe 5-4 on penalties to sail into the final after a scoreless 90 minutes and extra time.

Stars:

Stephen Adams, Abeiku Ainooson, Joshua Tijani, Nuru Sulley, Kwabena Adusei, Michael Akuffo, Jordan Opoku/Sulley Mohammed, Yahaya Mohammed/ Samuel Afful, Seidu Bancey/ Latif Mohammed, Asiedu Atobrah, Theophilus Anobah.