The resilience of the Black Challenge, the Ghana National Amputee Football Team, was in full display against El Salvador as they came from a goal down to maul El Salvador 3-1 in their second match at the ongoing Amputee Football World Cup in Kaliningrad, Russia.
The Ghanaians were unsettled in the first half by the rough and hard tackling El Salvadorians who recorded two yellow cards, with an early goal they held onto till the Black Challenge discovered their rhythm.
Emmanuel Yemoh landed a thunderbolt that passed through the feet and crutches of their opponents to record the much needed equalizer. Buoyed by this spectacular goal, the team kept the pressure on their counterparts till the half came to an end.
The second half saw a rejuvenated Black Challenge pestering the goal area of El Salvador till the second goal came through Emmanuel Yemoh, who raised his tally to two in the competition. Collins Gyamfi increased the lead to 3-1 through a free kick that zoomed into the posts to seal victory for Ghana, his second goal in the tournament.
The game continued with some rough tackles from El Salvador who injured two of Ghana’s players. That did not stop the team from defending the goals to the end.
The Black Challenge is now second on the table behind Russia who have superior goals but at par on 6 points.
Ghana play host Russia in what would be one of the toughest of their matches in the competitions. The Russians are fourth in the world behind Turkey, Argentina and Uzbekistan as per the ranking at the last World Cup in Argentina in 2010. Ghana is the sixth in the world.
In other matches, Argentina beat Poland by 2-1 and Liberia lost 1-3 to Turkey. Liberia lost their first match 0-4 to England.