The 26th Africa Cup of Nations began today in the west African state of Ghana as they beat Guinea 2 -1 in the opening game.
A splendidly colourful affair with both sets of fans awash with their red, green and yellow. Guinea played in the colours of their flag while Ghana played in all white.
The game was a tight with Ghana hitting the woodwork a couple of times in the first half. Asamoah Gyan of Ghana opening the scoring midway through the second half with a penalty. Guinea fought back well and Oumar Kalabane equalised with a header.
But Ghana finished the stronger and deserved all three points; and when Portsmouth’s Sulley Muntari let fly with a 30 yard belter that flew off his boot into the top right hand corner, the Guinea goalkeeper had no chance.
Ghana look powerful and full of confidence. Sulley Muntari and Chelsea’s Michael Essein ran the midfield and Junior Agogo spearheaded the attack. On as a late second half substitute was the 18 year old wonderkid Quincey Owusu-Abeyie, son of the Ghana legend Adebi Pele.
The French coach Claude LeRoy will be happy to have got off to a winning start as Ghana are one of the favourites, along with Nigeria and west coast neighbours Ivory Coast to win the Africa Nations Cup.
Tomorrow will see the other game in Group A and also the much anticipated opening game of Group B between Ivory Coast and Nigeria where Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Arsenal’s Kolo Toure of Ivory Coast take on the likes of Barcelona and Nigeria’s Samuel Eto.
Take a break and test yourself in Farayi Mungazi’s African Nations Cup penalty shootout
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