[ 2011-06-04 ]

Stars Thrash Congo
The senior national team, the Black Stars
yesterday put smiles on the faces of thousands of
soccer fans that jammed the Baba Yara stadium in
Kumasi when they fought like wounded lions to
demolish a 10-man stubborn Congo team 3-1.

The important victory helped Ghana to record
back-to-back wins over their opponents, having
easily accounted for Congo 3-0 at their own
backyard about five weeks ago.

But yesterday's victory in the Africa Cup of
Nations qualifier did not come on a silver platter
as Ghana, parading one of its finest squads ever,
had to wait till the 60th minute before having a
way through the iron-clad defense of the visitors.


The first goal for Ghana came when Isaac Vorsah,
who had played brilliantly all evening, towered
above everybody to head home Emmanuel Agyeman
Badu's incisive corner to break the deadlock.

The goal seemed to have brought back the
confidence the Black Stars needed as they upped
their lead five minutes later via Prince Tagoe,
before Congo reduced the deficit following lack of
communication between goalkeeper Richard Kingson
and goal scorer Vorsah.

The Congo goal could not take the steam out of the
determined Ghana team as they fought above
themselves to increase the tally in the 77th
minute through Agyeman Badu's bullet of a shot
from outside the box.

It was all jubilations at end of the
hotly-contested game, as the thousands of soccer
fans that thronged the stadium were seen singing
and dancing like nobody's business.

An earlier downpour right after the referee
whistled for hostilities to begin nearly marred
the game, but the determined Ghana team, parading
stars like Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari, and
Kevin Prince Boateng, among others, pressed on, as
they struggled to string their passes together on
the soggy pitch.

The two teams fought for supremacy in midfield but
the Congolese side looked dangerous on the few
occasions that they managed to enter the Black
Stars' territory.

The Black Stars were presented with a chance to
take the lead in the fourth minute when the
Congolese goalkeeper struggled to deal with
Essien's thunderbolt but striker Prince Tagoe,
with the keeper at is mercy, surprisingly missed
the target.

The two sides then threatened each other's goal
area on a few occasions but neither could make
good use of the chances that came their way,
bringing the first half to a close with a barren
score line.

The pep talks in the dressing room seem to have
impacted positively on the Black Stars' play as
they bombarded their opponents with a series of
attacks, one of which resulted in Abdoulaye Bruce
whacking advancing Kwadwo Asamoah to receive the
red card.

The deficit in men on the Congo side seemed to
have helped Ghana's cause as the Black Stars took
the lead minutes after the second bookable
offence, when Vorsah headed home Badu's perfect
corner.

Five minute later, the home team was 2-0 up when
Prince Tagoe headed home from a goal-mouth melee.
Before the joy that greeted the goal died down, a
Congolese attacker, Moussilou Massamba had
capitalized on a blunder by goalkeeper Kingson to
tap home to reduce the tally.

Ghana introduced Dede Ayew, Dominic Adiyiah and
Derek Boateng for Essien, Muntari and Prince
Boateng; and the changes worked right for the
Black Stars as they started to dominate the game
gain.

The Black Stars then turned their dominance into
another goal when man-of-the-match Agyeman Badu
unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot which zoomed
straight into the net.

After the goal, Ghana probed further for more
goals; but try as they did, they could not
increase the tally, bringing the Africa Nations
Cup qualifier to a close, with the home team
leading 3-1.

Source - Daily Guide

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