AFCON 23: Black Stars of Ghana Make Free Fall, Dashing Two Goals to Pharaohs of Egypt in a 2-2 Thriller

AFCON 23: Black Stars of Ghana Make Free Fall, Dashing Two Goals to Pharaohs of Egypt in a 2-2 Thriller

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By Eniola Olatunji

West Ham of Britain skillful player, Mohammed Kudus came from injury missing Ghana’s first match to post a five star performance for Black Stars of Ghana scoring a brace in a match Ghana will weep to remember because of the collateral damage their blunders caused them to end the match 2-2 on Thursday night in the AFCON Group B encounter.

Abdul had passed the ball to Kudus in a goal mouth melee and Kudus beat three opponents including Egyptian Goal Keeper to score a curtain raiser at 45+3 minutes.

Kudus again in the 71st minute got the ball from the right flank, beat a man and played a bullet shot which the Egyptian Goalkeeper could not save because he was blocked by his defenders.

Ghana’s Inaki Williams was like a motherless boy a long way from home after he dashed the Egyptians the equalizer from a terribly faulty back pass which Eintracht Frankfurt left winger, Omar Marmosh pounced upon and gleefully slot it to the left far corner at 64th minute to make it 1-1.

It was another defensive blunder that made the Stars from Ghana to heavily fall from the skies and Nantes of France Striker, Mostafa Mohammed simply tucked it into the net without saying “Thank you for the free gift to the Ghanaians”. That all important equalizer came 74th minute for Egypt.

In the first round matches, Egypt drew 2-2 with Mozambique and Ghana lost 1-2 to Cape Verde. Cape Verde will meet Mozambique tomorrow but the final group matches will be played on Monday 22nd January at 9pm between Mozambique and Ghana and Cape Verde and Egypt.

As at Thursday night, Cape Verde is leading Group B with 3 points scoring 2 goals and conceding 1; Egypt is 2nd with 2 points scoring 4 goals and conceding 4 goals also; Mozambique is 3rd with a point scoring 2 goals and conceding 2 goals and Ghana rocks the bottom wit a point in two matches scoring 3 goals and conceding 4.

Egypt and Ghana met seven times of which Egypt had 4 wins, Ghana won once and there were two draws. There was 2-2 draw in a friendly on 11th February 2009; Egypt won an AFCON match 1-0 on 31st January 2010; the highest scores recorded in their matches was a 6-1 massacre of Egypt by Ghana 6-1 on 15th October 2013 in a world cup qualifier; in another world cup qualifier played on 19th November 2013 Egypt won at home 2-1; Egypt again won another world cup qualifier duel 2-0 on 13th November 2016 in Egypt; The Pharaohs piped Ghana 1-0 in an AFCON match on 25th January 2017 and also on 12th November 2017 in a world cup qualifier it was 1-1 draw.

Egypt piped Zambia 1-0 in a friendly on 12th October 2023; got another 1-1 draw with Algeria in another friendly on 16th October 2023; ruled as Pharaoh over Djibouti 6-0 in a world cup match on 16th November 2023; on 19th November 2023 slammed Sierra Leone 2-0 and obtained same score line against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania in a friendly on 8th January 2024.

Egypt ranked 33rd in the world is making her 26th appearance and is the most decorated country in African football. They are seven times champions, a feat far away for achievement from any other country on the continent. The country won the maiden cup in 1957 in Sudan when four teams were playing the tournament and defeated Ethiopia 4-0 in the finals; in 1974 Egypt came back with a Bronze while hosting and defeated Democratic Republic of Congo 4-0; In 1976 at Ethiopia Nigeria pushed Egypt to the 4th position 3-2; Egypt again was left stranded in the 4th position in Lagos with the 4th position as Morocco made it 2-0; and the 4th position in a row was completed in Ivory Coast in 1984 as Algeria beat the Pharaohs 3-1.

In 1986 Egypt hosted and won after penalties of 5-4 ended the 0-0 full time scores against Cameroon; In 1988 at Burkina Faso Egypt got their 3rd win lifting the trophy with 2-0 win over South Africa; Egypt came again in 2006 as host to win a clean slate match against Ivory Coast 4-2 penalties after 0-0 at full time; The Lions of Cameroon were caged for Egypt to win again at the Ghana finals in 2008 by a lone goal; their last win was at Angola in 2010 when Ghana bowed 0-1. Though Egypt hosted in 2019 they were not among the last four. At the last competition in Cameroon, Egypt painfully lost 4-2 on penalties to the Teranga Lions of Senegal after 0-0 full time.

The Black Stars of Ghana lost to Mexico in a friendly 0-2 on 15th October 2023; lost 0-4 to USA in another friendly on 18th October 2023; on 17th November 2023 Ghana piped Madagascar by a lone goal in a world cup duel; shockingly Comoros Island dimmed the Black Stars 1-0 in a world cup match on 21st November 2023 and on 8th January 2024 Ghana played Goalless with Namibia in a friendly.

Ghana is four times champions of Africa. Ghana first lifted the trophy hosting in 1963 by beating Sudan 3-0; Ghana won again in 1965 in Tunisia beating Tunisia 3-2 after extra time; it was a Silver at Ethiopia 68 when Democratic Republic of Congo surprisingly won by a lone goal; at Sudan 70 Ghana again lost this time to Sudan by a lone goal in the final; Ghana won in 1978 while hosting beating Uganda Cranes 2-0 and also in Libya 82 on 7-6 penalties after 1-1 at full time; In Senegal 92 Ghana lost via penalty in the finals to Ivory Coat 11-10 on pens after goalless match; in South Africa 96 she lost 0-1 to Zambia to place 4th.

Ghana co-hosted with Nigeria in 2000 but got no honors; in 2008 she hosted and won Bronze beating Ivory Coast 4-2; she narrowly lost the trophy by a lone goal to Egypt at Angola 2010; placed 4th losing to Mali 0-2 when Equatorial Guinea and Gabon hosted in 2012; placed 4th again at South Africa 2013 losing to Mali 1-3; stopped by Ivory Coast to win the trophy at Equatorial Guinea in 2015 and in 2017 at Gabon placed 4th losing the Bronze to Burkina Faso by a lone goal.

Cape Verde will step up to meet Mozambique in an outstanding Group B match at 3pm today, Friday; Defending Champions Senegal will be in a Lion versus Lions match facing Cameroon at 6pm and Guinea will face Scorpions of Gambia at 9pm.

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