Stars fail to impress but still qualify

Standings

African Nations Cup goal-scorers

Stop using yellow jersey - Fan

Accra (Ghana), Tuesday 1^st February 2000

Ghanaian soccer fans were disappointed yesterday when the senior national team the Black Stars stumbled to a crushing 0-2 defeat at the hands of the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Fans who thronged to the stadium could not believe their eyes as the score board read the results in favour of the Ivorians at full time.

Just as it happened in their first match against the Lions of Cameroon, The Stars were a pale shadow of themselves and looked like passengers, with the Ivorians in the driving seat, for the greater part of the game. They played without cohesion leaving the Ivorians to dictate everything that mattered.

Ironically, it was the Ghanaians who kicked off and made early incursions into their opponent’s goal area to raise the hopes of the few supporters who were at the stadium. The early moves earned them two free kicks close to the Ivorians 18 under three minutes but the kicks by Sam Johnson and C.K Akunnor were wasted.

Elephant’s Akassou Ghislain attracted Referee Gamal Ghandour of Egypt’s yellow card in the 15^th minute for rough tackling Emmanuel Osei Kuffour and Akunnor, curled a free-kick that resulted from the tackle but it was headed wayward by Kwame Ayew.

From the 20^th minute Cote d’Ivoire, looking well composed opened fire in their game and to which the Ghanaians had no antidote.

With favourite striker Ibrahim Bakayoko starting on the bench, new entrant Die Serge combined effectively with Kalou Bonaventure and Diallo Modibo to create anxious moments for the Stars.

In the 35^th minute, Die Serge moved threateningly from the right into Ghana’s goal area and squared one unto the path of Diallo Modibo but the Ivorian striker’s connection missed the post narrowly. Three minutes later Stars goalkeeper Kingston was on hand to clear a sticky situation with Kalou in contention.

Kalou, easily the man of the match, could however not be denied the second chance when he was put through from midfield to flip one past keeper Kingston when it was past the 45^th minutes mark.

With their confidence boosted the Elephants went all out in the second half in search of goals to boost their position and earn a quarterfinal ticket. With the Stars defence of Samuel Osei Kuffour, Emmanuel Osei Kuffour and Sam Johnson virtually crumbled Cote d’Ivoire raided the Ghanaian goal area with Kalou as the tormentor in chief.

Stars coach Guiseppe Dosenna pulled out Augustine Arhinful, Samuel Osei Kuffour and Otto Addo for Peter Ofori Quaye, Mohammed Gargo and Yaw Preko respectively to beef up his team. Elephants also substituted Zoko Gnahoua, Diallo Hamed Modibo and Ibrahima Kone with Donald Sier, Ibrahim Bakayoko and Koassi Koffi Blaise.

The substitutions did nothing to change the pattern of the game as the Ivorians kept the heat on. In the 83^rd minute Kalou beat his marker on the right, paced up into Ghana’s 18 to lay a tailor-measured pass for Donald Sier to slot in his side’s second goal.

With seven minutes to full time, the Ivorians piled the greatest pressure looking for a much needed goal but try as they did the Black Stars managed to hold them for the remaining minutes to keep their ticket for the quarterfinals intact.

Despite their win Ghana and Cameroon qualified to the next stage of the competition after topping their Group.

At Kumasi, the Hawks of Togo caused the greatest upset in the CAN 2000 when they scored a lone goal victory over high rated Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in their Group A match played at the Kumasi Sports Stadium on Monday.

The Cameroonians paid dearly for their casual approach to the game as the Togolese took the stadium by storm, swarming all over the place like hungry lions looking for prey.

Their efforts yielded rich dividends when they scored the leader in the 19th minute after a sustained pressure on the Lions.

Tchangah Massamesso slotted the ball into the net in a crowded goal-mouth action after goalkeeper Aloun Boukar had punched Coubadja Abdel Kader’s close range shot into play.

Togo nearly scored their second four minutes later when goalkeeper Boukar was displaced and Abdel Kader lobbed one meant for the net. The slippery striker however missed narrowly.

From then on Cameroon counter-attacked, creating several openings in the Togolese defence but they failed to level up as goalkeeper Agassi Kossi dived to his elastic limit to foil Cameroonian striker Job Joseph Desire's effort in the 32nd and 33rd minutes.

The Togolese marshalled their forces as the Cameroonians went all out, pinning the opponents to their half of the field but the defence stood gallantly.

Two Togolese players --Yao Senaya and Yao Aziawonou, who played it hard were shown the yellow card by the Nigerian referee Olaniyan Olufemi in the 72nd and 74th minutes.

With 10 minutes to the end Cameroon put the Togo under severe pressure but try as they did they could still not level up as the defence proved unyielding.

Two minutes inside injury time, Cameroon wasted a chance to pull even when Njitab Fotso Jeremi Sorellu hit the side-post after the defence had been sliced open but the rebound was cleared.

Despite their 0-1 loss, Cameroon still leads the Group with superior goals aggregate followed by Ghana after the four countries tied with four points at the end of final matches.

GRi

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The third matches of Group C would be honoured today in Lagos and Nigeria at 16GMT.

In Kano, Group leaders Egypt will meet Burkina Faso while Senegal and Zambia clash in the other match Lagos.

GRi.../

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Accra (Greater Accra) 1 Feb 2000

African Nations Cup goal-scorers after Monday's matches:

3 - Shaun Bartlett (South Africa) 2 - Victor Ikpeba, Austin Okocha (Nigeria) Kwame Ayew (Ghana), Hossam Hassan (Egypt) 1 - Dumisa Ngobe (South Africa), Chiva Nzighou, BrunoMbanangoye (Gabon), Adel Sellimi, Walid Azaiez (Tunisia), Marc- Vivien Foe, Raymond Kalla, Samuel Eto'o, Patrick Mboma (Cameroon), Otto Addo (Ghana), Yasser Radwan (Egypt), Tchirresoa Guel, Donald-Olivier Sie, Bonaventure Kalou (Ivory Coast), Massamesso Tchangai, Lantame Ouadja (Togo), Ousmane Sanou, Alassane Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso), Henri Camara, Papa Sarr, Salif Keita (Senegal), Salaheddine Bassir (Morocco), Dennis Lota (Zambia), Farid Ghazi, Abdelhafid Tasfaout, Billel Dziri (Algeria).

GRi../

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Accra (Greater Accra) 1 Feb 2000

An angry soccer enthusiast on Tuesday walked to the Sports Department of the Ghana News Agency in Accra and kicked against the wearing of yellow jersey by the Black Stars, especially in matches involving neighbouring countries.

Mr John K. Mensah, an old footballer, attributed the Stars 0-2 defeat by Cote d'Ivoire in the final group A match of the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday to the yellow jersey.

He said records have it that the Black Stars perform better, especially in matches involving Togo and Cote d'Ivoire, if they put on a different jersey.

Mr Mensah said though many would consider his assertion as "childish in this computer age" he still believes that spiritually, the yellow jersey has been tagged as a bad omen.

He called on the authorities in charge of the Black Stars to adopt a white jersey and find another colour apart from yellow as the second jersey.

The Stars drew 1-1 with Cameroon in a yellow jersey but beat Togo 2-0 in their second match in a white jersey.

GRi../