Friendly Internationsl
Egypt 1 - 2 Ghana
Ghana goals: Kwame Ayew, Augustine Arhinful
details later


Daily Graphic
Black Stars win in Cairo

The senior national football team, Black Stars, yesterday began their build-up to next year?s Nations Cup on a winning note by beating Egypt 2-1 in an international friendly match in Cairo.

The newly signed French coach of the African champions, Gerard Gili, could only watch in awe as his first assignment ended in defeat. Playing with the full compliment of his foreign and local-based players, Giuseppe Dossena once again masterminded an impressive performance away, which saw Yaw Preko and Kwame Ayew reliving their great partnership of the 1992 bronze medal-winning Black Meteors.

It was this same partnership between the two players which saw Preko sending a pull-out for the sporting Lisbon striker to score the opening goal of the match in the 44th minute. The better-prepared Pharaohs at certain stages of the match pinned the Ghanaians to the wall, forcing goalkeeper Richard Kingston to pull some brilliant saves, whilst Turkey-based Stephen Baidoo and Sam Johnson, who was shown a yellow card for a hard tackle on an opponent, proving resilient in defence.

However on the hour mark, the Egyptians pulled even through a powerful shot from close-range, which Kingston had no answer to. Augustine Ahinful put the Stars ahead when he rifled home a shot, which ricochetted off an Egyptian defender. The attack was initiated by Hearts of Oak?s utility player Emmanuel Kuffour, who dribbled his way into Egyptians? penalty box before laying a pass to the Boavista striker to score the match winner.

Line-up(Stars): Richard Kingston, Stephen Baidoo, Sam Johnson, Osei Kuffour (capt.), Mark Edusei, Jacob Nettey, Otto Addo/Yaw Owusu, Augustine Ahinful/Baba Adams, Kwame Ayew, Yaw Preko/ Charles Amoah, Emmanuel Kuffour.

From Egyptian paper

1st half Summary - The first half started calm. Play mostly in midfield, and Egypt holding on to the ball more. Ghana had their first chance when a long ball was chipped into Egypt's penalty box, and a striker from Ghana shot it, but it was blocked by Hany Ramzy. Ghana shot a very powerful shot, but it was blocked by Nader El-Sayed. Egypt had their first chance at scoring when Ahmed Salah Hosny shot the ball from inside the penalty zone, but it was inches high. Ball posession was equal between the two sides after the first 15 minutes. Egypt had a chance when Abd El-Sattar Sabry passed by 2 players from Ghana, but passed the ball short before it could reach Ahmed Salah Hosny. Egypt had a very dangerous chance from a counterattack, when Yasser Radwan passed the ball to Abd El-Latif El-Domany who crossed it on the ground into the penalty area, but the goalie reached it just before Ahmed Salah Hosny. Egypt had another fast counterattack; Yasser Radwan crossed it from one end of the field to the other to reach Abd El-Sattar Sabry who crossed it to Ahmed Salah Hosny, but Ghana's goalkeeper reach it first once again. Egypt started pressuring Ghana with 20 to go in the first half. Ghana depended mainly on the counterattacks from the right wing, and shots through the middle from outside the zone. Ghana had a very dangerous chance when the ball was stolen from Egypt's defence, and was shot, but it was blocked by Nader El-Sayed. Egypt's most dangerous chance started with a group of fast passes on the left-hand side of Ghana's penalty box between Omara, Emam, and Abd El-Sattar. The ball finally reached Abd El-Sattar, who faked a first shot, then shot the second on the keepers left. The ball hit the upright. Ghana scored a goal that was cancelled because the player was standing in an offside position when he scored it. Ahmed Salah Hosny headed a ball from a cross by Yasser Radwan, but the goalie was ready for it, and took the correct positioning. In the last minute of the first half, Ghana scored their first goal in Egypt from a counterattack when the ball was crossed from the right wing to a totally unguarded attacker who shot it directly on the upper-right hand side of Nader El-Sayed. The half ended 1-0 for Ghana.
2nd half Summary - The first 5 minutes began with Ghana holding the ball more. Egypt had a very dangerous chance when Ahmed Hassan and Mazhar Abd El-Rahman pressured Ghana's keeper, and a defender. The goalie was out of his goal, but Ahmed Hassan chipped the ball just high of the goal. Ghana had another dangerous chance (a one-on-one), but the player was caught offside. Egypt scored the equalizer from a give-and-go between Abd El-Latif El-Domany, and Mohammed Omara. Omara received the pass from El-Domany and shot it in the goal. Egypt had a very dangerous chance right after they scored. Ahmed Hassan received a pass, and found himself all alone in front of the goal.
He shot the ball, but it was blocked by the keeper. Egypt started to pressure Ghana after they scored the equalizer. Egypt received an indirect foul from inside the penalty zone, after Ghana's keeper held the ball too long. Abu El-Dahab shot the ball, but it was deflected off the human wall. Ghana had a dangerous counterattack which was saved by Omara who sprinted from midfield with Ghana's striker. Ghana scored their second goal from several short passes in the crowded penalty area, to reach #17 who scored from close range. Play returned to midfield after Ghana's goal, and Egypt had more posession. Egypt scored a goal but was also cancelled due to an offside call. Egypt pressured Ghana at the end of the match, and almost scored from a header by Hossam Abd El-Moneim that was inches wide of the goal. With 4 minutes of extra time, Egypt pressured Ghana in their half of the field in an attempt to equalize. The match ended 2-1 for Ghana.