GhanaFA

Starlets beat Libya to reach final round

15 years ago
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Ghana stayed on course for the African Under-17 Championship next year by booking a place in the final round of qualifiers with a 2-1 win over Libya in Tripoli on Friday.

The Black Starlets thus complete the double over the Libyans to finish the fixture 5-1 on aggregate and now await to play the winner of the clash between Gambia and Sierra Leone in the final qualifying round for a place to the 8th Africa U-17 Championship to be hosted by Algeria in 2009.

Alhassan Mohammed’s header 12 minutes into the second half set the Black Starlets up for minimum one-point needed to qualifier for the final round but there was a response from the host in Tripoli.

The Libyans managed to hit the upright after some great work from the left saw them cut into the Ghanaian area in the 68th minute.

With 18 minutes of play remaining, an indirect freekick was awarded the host inside the Ghanaian penalty area from a seemingly bad decision by the referee.

The Libyans drew level from the indirect kick after a shot at goal deflected off the boot of a Black Starlet player and past the goalkeeper, James Adjei, for the equaliser – which dragged Libya back into the game but needing a high scoring result then after Ghana had won the first leg 3-0.

Ghana fought back and jumped into the lead once again just four minutes after the equaliser. Black Starlets captain, Kwame Frimpong scored from a spot kick after left back; Ibrahim Moro has been upended in the Libya area.

The Black Starlets held on as Libya’s hopes of finishing ahead of Ghana had completely gone.

Though finishing the match the better side, the Black Starlets were wasteful in both session of the game with Kwame Nsor failing to find target before he was taken off for Frank Acheampong in the second half.

Coach E.K Afranie’s team deserved the win, having unsettled their host right from the start of the game.