Ghana beat Nigeria 4-1 on penalties after the sides ended
goalless after extra-time in the African Nations Championship semi-final at
Free State Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Final will be between Ghana and Libya while Nigeria
will face Zimbabwe for the bronze medal on Saturday.
The Black Stars played a lot of the match with 10-men
after they had Kwabina Adusei sent off in the 64th minute for a second bookable
offence.
Neither side were able to dominate in the opening minutes
although Nigeria looked the better of the two teams as Ghana stuck to their
style of sitting back to defend, while launching attacks from the flanks.
Attobrah came close for Ghana in the 10th minute, but saw
his shot deflected for a corner by the Nigerian defence. Abubakar Ibrahim
however responded for the Super Eagles two minutes later, he could only managed
to strike the side netting
The Ghanaians resorted to brute tackling to curtail the
Nigerian attack with both Ejike Uzoenyi and Kunle Odunlami falling victims to
heavy challenges inside the opening twenty minutes.
Abubakar was unlucky not to open scoring for Nigeria in
the 27th minute, as his long range shot came off the crossbar, with Adams
already well beaten.
Abubakar's missed effort sparked Nigeria into action as
they ceaselessly attacked the Ghanaians who did well to keep them at bay.
Uzoenyi came close to scoring for Nigeria in the 37th minute, but his shot went
wide as the game remained goalless going into the break.
The first real chance of the second half fell to Ifeanyi
Ede in the 52nd minute as he found his way between two Ghanaian defenders, but
the Enyimba frontman could not keep his resulting shot on target.
The game remained a fierce tactical battle between the
two sides, with neither of them refusing to break rank until Nigeria were
handed a numerical advantage when Ghana's centre-back was deservedly sent off
in the 63rd minute for yet another high boot challenge on Abubakar, barely a
minute after Imenger came on in place of Ede.
Rabiu Ali missed a chance to put Nigeria ahead as he shot
wide after Adams misjudged an Uzoenyi free-kick. Shehu and Esieme also had
chances of their own, but their shots were not enough to trouble the Nigerian
goalkeeper.
Nigeria continued to pile pressure on Ghana during the
dying minutes of the regulation time, but it failed to yield any meaningful
result as the game went into extra time.
Ghana's numerical disadvantage did not reflect in the
opening minutes of extra time as they managed to push Nigeria backwards with a
more purposeful display. Imenger had a penalty appeal turned down in the 96th
minute after he wentto ground inside the Ghanaian box.
A minute later, Imenger missed a chance to put Nigeria
ahead as his shot went over the bar after good work from Uzoenyi.
Ghana had a rare sight at goal in the second half of
extra-time through Afful, but Agbim dealt with the threat very easily, as
Christian Pyagbara came on for Abubakar Aliyu a moments later.
Imenger missed a golden opportunity to win the game for
Nigeria in the 118th minute as he could only put his shot wide after a good
shot from Uzoenyi with the keeper at his mercy. With both teams unable to score
after extra-time, the game went into penalties.
Michael Akuffo scored the first spot kick for Ghana, and
Uzoenyi levelled for Nigeria. Anobaah and Ainooson converted their respective
spot kicks for Ghana, while Kwambe and Uzochukwu missed their kicks for
Nigeria. Attobrah converted for Ghana to make it 4-1 in favour of the Black
Stars as they booked their place in the final against Libya.
NIGERIA XI: Agbim - Solomon, Odunlami, Egwuekwe, Eseme;
Uzochukwu, Ali (Obaje 81), Shehu; Ejike, Ibrahim (Pyagbara 113'), Ede (Imenger
63')
GHANA XI: Adams - Abusei, Ainooson, Tijani, Sulley;
Akuffo, Opoku (Sulley Mohammed 115'), Attobrah; Bansey (Abdul Latif 76'),
Anobaah, Mohammed (Afful 55')
Culled from Kicoffnigeria
