Meteors held by Senegal

Defending champions, Black Meteors, were held to a goalless draw by Senegal yesterday in their opening Group B match of the ongoing All Africa Games at the Alphonse Massamba Debat Stadium in Brazzaville.

    In a match largely dominated by the Senegalese, the Meteors had on their bench two experienced coaches, Malik Jabir and his assistant Abdul-Karim Zito, but the two tacticians could not guide their charges to a good start as Ghana were twice saved by the goal post in the dying minutes of the tense encounter.

Senegal took the game to the Meteors from the blast of the whistle and led an onslaught on their opponents but failed to make any meaningful impact in the Ghanaians’ goal area.

Coach Jabir's charges hardly put passes together and were unable to control the game as midfielders Kennedy Ashia, Richard Gedze and striker Patrick Asmah failed making their presence felt especially in the first half.

Back from recess, the Meteors increased the tempo of the game and made some incursions into the Senegalese goal area in search of the opener, with the best chance falling to striker Patrick Asmah whose effort went wide.

Senegal took charge of affairs as striker Cheingu Dieng and midfielder Sylvain Badji kept the Meteors defence busy with goalkeeper Richard Ofori often coming to the team’s rescue.

Senegal nearly fetched the opener in the dying minutes of the game but Abdoulaye Ba's effort hit the post much to the relief of the Meteors who now face Nigeria on Wednesday in their next match.

Ghana: Richard Ofori, Emmanuel Nti Emnsah, Baba Mensah, Lawrence Lartey, Latif Abdul Anabila, Bright Adjei, Kennedy Ashia, Richard Gedze, Patrick Asmah and Samuel Tetteh.