A fine late strike from Jim Allevinah gave Gabon a huge 1-1 draw against Ghana and put them on the cusp of the knockouts at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Gabon started the brightest, but it was Ghana who broke the deadlock after 18 minutes. Andre Ayew received the ball 25 yards out with his back to goal, swivelled brilliantly and fired his shot into the bottom left corner.
Despite both sides having opportunities to threaten their opponent’s goal in the opening 45 minutes, poor execution in the final third meant clear cut chances were scarce.
Gabon had a great chance to equalise early in the second half, but Junior Assoumou directed a free header from a corner over the bar.
They had another brilliant chance on the hour mark as they grew into the second half. A low cross was half-cleared but only as far as Johann Obiang inside the box, who unleashed a shot towards goal only to be denied by the brave head of Iddrisu Baba.
Eventually Allevinah broke the Ghana resistance with an excellent left-footed goal.
There was an incident after the final whistle as players and staff came together in the centre of the pitch as the two sides clashed.
20 Comments
I keep saying it, Ghana’s football glory days are well behind them. How can your first choice goalkeeper play for a 4th division club.
U wish
The fairplay rules are good for the game. However, they are optional. Fairplay rules can’t be enforced.
If you play the ball out of bounds because your man is down, you have to be prepared for the likelihood that your opponent will hold on to possession and possibly launch an attack. Most times, your opponent will return the ball to you in the spirit of fairplay. But some opponents will not. You must be prepared for both scenarios.
YOU CAN’T COUNT ON YOUR OPPONENT’S CHIVALRY.
Yes, Gabon should have returned the ball to Ghana, but they chose to carry on playing. And the game allows for that.
Ghana should have been remained vigilant at the back.
They deserve to be punished for such childish and unnecessary show of anger…that Tetteh guy punched a Gabonese player and ran into the tunnel. He wanted to run away from the ref but lass lass he still collected his red…the Ayew brothers deserved red too(esp Andre)
So why don’t u go and show all our players red card?? Jealous dude
The match was 99% physical with no applicatuon of sense.
The major reason the African countries are yet to reach final in world cup.
I was expecting the referee to reduce those bad tackles with many yellow cards from the kick-off. Though, the referee latter start issuing the yellow cards.
The match is too physical as if they were fighting war. Not entertaining at all.
Ghana were thoroughly outplayed (even without Aubebwyang), which only confirms and extends a pattern of disjointed play shorn of real conviction – right from their shady win against SA in the WCQ first round to the 3-0 trashing by Algeria in pre-Afcon friendly. These ones are on a decline and are no contenders. Gabon may pull a draw with Morroco and Ghana might only qualify as one of the best losers with 3 points.
Tbh, I don’t see them progressing beyond the round of 16 (if they manage to qualify). And any team they’re paired up against in next week’s draws for WCQ 2nd round fixtures is almost as good as already qualified for Qatar 2022. I pray it’s Nigeria.
U ll eat a humble pie!! I ll come here and remind u of that! U charlatan
Guy, calm down and chew ice block. Your emotions are all over the place and doing all the ranting. Go ask Gyan to tell you the unsentimental truth.
I don’t have the energy to argue a non-issue. But to summarize, at the moment, Ghana is nowhere near the level of Nigeria. Simple fact if you were commenting with your head and not emotions. I mean, your number 9 is Jordan Ayew! Has he even won EPL player of the month? Do you know how many times Nigerians have won it in recent times. And some of them couldn’t even come to Afcon.
Your goalkeeper plays for Swindon Town in English Tier 4 League. No coach will date such in Nigeria – not even at the U23 level. We have a standard and will even sack a winning coach if it’s not convincing. I’m not even talking about losing 3-0 whether in a friendly or competitive match, even if it’s against Brazil. That’s almost unthinkable. Not at the current standard we hold our team to.
Don’t even pray we pair off in the WCQ playoffs cos Nigeria will very likely wrap up qualification in the first leg in Accra. It’ll be a good chance to beat Ghana in Ghana. Confident of that.
Ghana will beat Nigeria 5 goals to 0. They were unlucky against Gabon.
“Ghana will beat Nigeria 5:0″… shame no catch you as you said this?
U didn’t watch the match!! Is free on YouTube!! I wish we get Nigeria in the playoffs
You must be joking bro !!!!
Most excellent doctor KOYEMI ODERINDE.
That means Ghana is FAR BETTER than Nigeria, abi?
Hehehehe, my main man! Good to see you again!
Your mouth is saying something, while your mind is saying another thing. Which means your mind didn’t agree with your mouth.
@Akanlo Ede
Ghana and Senegal are the most disapointing teams in this AFCON thus far.
Ghana in particular are living in past glory. The last time they won the AFCON was forty years ago, yet they have the boldness to call us super chickens.
I sincerely hope they are drawn against us in the World Cup playoffs. Of course, they will raise their game, as usual, if they meet us. They are always extra motivated when playing against us. But I am confident we will whip them.
U still the super chicken!! Beating a disjointed Egyptian team has made u grow wings all of a sudden!! Ghana ll prune ur wings for u very soon!! Wait and see
That could be true if we are beating Egypt for the first time. Ghana is very good, infact they will play AFCON final and I see them carrying the cup. You should be okay now, if you are not okay with that, you will be okay as the competition progresses.
no b juju dey worry you so