|
Ghana become the first African country in
history to win the U-20 World Cup
Cairo, Egypt, October 17, 2009 — Ghana overcame Brazil 4-3 on penalties
in the final of the Under-20 World Cup at the Cairo International
Stadium on Friday to become the first African side to win the
tournament.
Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu struck the winning spotkick in sudden death after
substitute Maicon had spurned the chance to give Brazil their fifth
title by placing his penalty over the crossbar.
Ghana fought manfully after the controversial first-half dismissal of
Daniel Addo, taking the game to extra-time and then riding their luck in
the shootout after 120 goalless minutes.
Goalkeeper Daniel Aygei kept Ghana in the game earlier in extra-time
with a point-blank save from Maicon, who had been teed-up 10 yards out
by Alex Teixeira's cut-back.
Reported Manchester United target Douglas Costa twice went close in the
additional 30 minutes, while Aygei was also called into action by
Wellington Junior.
The game changed with the straight red card shown to Ghana centre-back
Addo, who was very harshly dismissed for a halfway-line foul on livewire
striker Teixeira in the 37th minute despite the presence of a covering
defender.
Ghana's numerical disadvantage handed their opponents the initiative
after an attritional first 45 minutes and Brazil dominated the second
half.
Striker Alan Kardec scored Brazil's winner in the 1-0 semi-final victory
over Costa Rica but he was in profligate form against Sellas Tetteh's
men.
He spurned four chances inside 12 second-half minutes, first diverting a
cross straight at Aygei before twice heading over and also firing into
the side netting after a burst down the left.
Tetteh punched the air at the end of extra-time, proud to have kept the
favorites at bay despite being a man down.
His joy turned to delirium when Agyemang-Badu slotted his penalty into
the bottom-right corner after Maicon had fluffed his chance to give
Brazil an unassailable 4-2 lead in the shootout.
Earlier, Hungary secured victory in their third-place play-off match
against Costa Rica after heroics from goalkeeper Peter Kulacsi in
another penalty shootout.
Marcos Urena's fine 81st-minute opener for Costa Rica was cancelled out
by an injury-time penalty from Vladimir Koman and in the ensuing
shootout Kulacsi saved three penalties and saw one strike the crossbar
to earn the Europeans a 2-0 spotkick victory.
Source: AFP
|
|
