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Soccer News of Sunday, 6 July 2003

Source: Chronicle

Ghana Kicked Out By Rwanda

A Jimmy Gatete goal after fifty-three minutes of play has qualified Rwanda for their first African Nation's Cup finals in one of the biggest upsets in the competition's history.

The victory over Ghana, four times African champions means the Black Stars would be absent from the biennial African football event for the first time since 1990.

The athletic Rwandans dominated play and snuffed Ghana out in midfield for much of the ninety minutes. And once Gatete scored the goal, they were content to just sit back and defend as Ghana desperately sought the equalizer.

With the Black Stars pouring forward in search of the vital equalizer that would have sent them to the Nation's Cup instead, Rwanda even created several scoring opportunities but were denied by superb goalkeeping from George Owu.

At the blast of the final whistle, the noise level in the stadium grew as the East African country celebrated the historic victory.

For Ghana, the defeat has already evoked strong reactions with all the criticism directed at German coach Bukhard Ziese. The German had declared before the game that Ghana could so easily lose but that is unlikely to save the German his job.

The next few days would definitely see some heads roll.