[ 2013-07-10 ]

France beats Ghana again to make U-20 finals
A Florian Thauvin-inspired France battled their
way beyond a valiant Ghana side to reach the FIFA
U-20 World Cup final for the first time in their
history.

Goals in either half from the hard-working
midfielder saw Pierre Mankowski's side beyond the
Black Satellites, after Ebenezer Assifuah had
drawn the African side level just after half-time,
despite the Colombia 2011 semi-finalists finishing
with ten men after Samuel Umtiti was dismissed.

The game began at a frantic pace, and it was
stunning to see the scoreboard still goalless with
15 minutes played. Frank Acheampong had sight of
goal for Ghana, while each of Thauvin, Paul Pogba,
Jean Cristophe Bahebeck, Lucas Digne and Yaya
Sanogo went close for France.

Bahebeck clipped the outside of the post Ghanaian
post, but the best chances fell to the latter Les
Bleuets pair. First they combined with a neat
one-two to release Digne, whose shot from inside
the area was saved by Eric Antwi - which squirmed
free and was collected on the second attempt.

They were at it again when Digne fed Sonogo at the
near post, and while the striker's first shot was
blocked, he got his second effort on goal. It was
too close to Antwi however, when the Arsenal man
should have done better.

Antwi was to thank for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World
Cup winners still being in the game and tightened
up their rear-guard to stem the flow of chances,
but Thauvin broke the deadlock right on half-time.
Another silky exchange of passes unlocked the
Ghanaian defence, this time Bahebeck and Thauvin,
with the impressive Lille midfielder dragging the
ball past Antwi superbly to slot into the open
net.

Their lead was short-lived though, as Ghana flew
out of the blocks after the break, with Ebenezer
Assifuah firing home superbly to draw level with
Bruma and Jese at the top of the scorers charts.
Fighting off pressure from Geoffrey Kondogbia, he
opened out on to his left foot and rifled an
unstoppable effort in off the post.

It could have been two before the 50th minute,
with Alphonese Areola pulling off two great saves.
First tipped over Acheampong's curling free-kick,
before palming away Michael Anaba's header from
the resulting corner.

Assifuah had a gilt-edged chance to give Ghana the
lead, only making minimal contact on a dangerous
Acheampong cross, and they were made to pay when
Thauvin struck again soon after. Picking the ball
up in the right channel, he cut inside onto his
left and drilled the ball into the bottom corner.

Areola had to save well from Assifuah to maintain
that lead and a second yellow card for Samuel
Umtiti made for a nervy final ten minutes for
France. A final save from Areola, tipping over
from Assifuah, saw them into the final.

Source - GRi

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