5 times ‘lady luck’ smiled to Ghana on penalties

A familiar yet painful story was retold yesterday as Ghana’s Black Meteors lost 3-2 on penalties to Ivory Coast at the 2019 Under-23 AFCON.

It was quite heartbreaking watching the dejected faces of the Meteors players who fought spiritedly to comeback twice in the game.

Those disappointed faces were reminiscent of the despondent figure cut by the Black Stars players at the final of the 2015 AFCON and the Black Stars B players at this year’s WAFU Nations Cup final.

The two aforementioned episodes were triggered by penalty loses to Ivory Coast and Senegal respectively.

Ghana’s ‘curse’ with penalty shootouts is well documented and according to Angel FM’s Saddick Adams, Ghana has been on the losing side of 20 penalty shootouts since its last AFCON title in 1982.

However, there have been a few times that the hoodoo has been broken and as Ghanaians brood over the latest disappointment, ghanaweb.com put the spotlight on five shootouts that Ghana won which can be studied to turn the situation around.

2009 u-20 World Cup

The biggest and the most-easily remembered shootouts victory in the history of Ghana football.

On the 16 of October, 2009 at the Cairo International Stadium, Ghana made history as the first and so far, only country on the continent to lift the FIFA under-20 World Cup.

A 10-man Black Satellites team achieved a remarkable feat by beating Brazil 4-3 on penalties to win the cup.

1982 AFCON Ghana’s fourth and last Africa Cup title which was won 37 years ago came via shootouts.

The final of that AFCON was between Ghana and hosts Libya and after 1-1 draw in regulation time, the game had to be settled on penalties.

The first five kicks of both sides ended in the net which led to the sudden death. Ghana’s goalie Owusu Mensah missed but made amends to save Libya’s next kick.

Emmanuel Quarshie and Opoku Afriyie scored while Mensah saved Zeiyu’s kick to hand Ghana victory.

It remains the last time the Black Stars won a competitive match from shootouts.

Italia 91

Odartey Lamptey’s exceptional talent was announced to the world at this tournament.

The then youngster led the charge for Ghana’s first under-17 world title and left the tournament with the golden ball award.

Odartey was also one of four takers who converted their kicks to give Ghana a 4-2 victory over Qatar at the second round.

John Essien, Sebastien Barnes and Kofi Mbeah were the other takers.

2011 All Africa Games

Kwesi Appiah’s only trophy for Ghana as a coach came at the 2011 Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique.

A late drama saw two goals scored in the last 5 minutes as Ghana and South Africa drew in duration time.

A 4-2 victory in the shootouts gave captain Mahatma Otoo and his teammates a gold medal.

CHAN 2009

Group B toppers Ghana set up a semi-final tie with Senegal who finished second in Group A.

Game headed for penalties after 1-1 draw in 90 minutes. Ghana progressed to the finals with 7-6 win over Senegal.

The Black Stars B however lost 2-0 to DR Congo in the finals.