The National U-20 football team, the Black Satellites, has gifted the country a huge birthday gift by winning their 4th AFCON title in the just-ended tournament held in Mauritania.
The Satellites put up a spirited performance to beat the Hippos of Uganda by 2 goals to nil. The Hippos never really looked like they were contenders for the trophy in the final registering no shot on target in the first 45 minutes.
After constant pressure from the Satellites, their efforts paid off when skipper Daniel Afriyie Barnieh scored the first goal of the game in the 22nd minute from a corner kick. 29 minutes later, the Hearts of Oak player added a second, after latching on to a cross by Percious Boah.
The Satellites proceeded to the knock-out stages as one of the best third-placed teams in the tournament. They beat Cameroon on penalties and Gambia by a lone goal in the Quarterfinals and semi-finals respectively to book a place in their 6th U-20 AFCON final.
In the last tournament, the Black Satellites were kicked out after failing to progress from the group stage.
With this win, the Black Satellites have added one more trophy to their trophy cabinet with the others from 1993, 1999 and 2009.