Match Report: Ghana 1 Spain 2

(From Caesar Abagali, GNA Special Correspondent in Ulsan, South Korea) Courtesy Ministry of Education, Science and Sports)

Ulsan (SK), Sept. 5, GNA - The dreams of Ghana's Black Starlets to cruise to the finals of the World Cup U-17 were derailed when Spain on Wednesday shocked them and the Korean fans with a well deserved win of 2-1 to end the Ghanaians aim of conquering the world the third time. The Spaniards won the hearts of Korean fans right after the referee's whistle to signal the end of proceedings of the match for their good performance against Ghana.

The usual shouts of "Ghana!, Ghana!!, Ghana!!! by Korean fans was conspicuously missing, an indication that fans this time round did not admire the play of the Starlets' as compared to their other games played in the tournament.

The game was virtually played in the middle of the pitch with the Spaniards taking absolute control and preventing the Ghanaians to have a hold of their normal ball possession to break through their defense. Starlets striker Sadick Adams had a glorious chance to open scoring as early as the second minute of the first half but failed to find the net even after displacing the goalkeeper.

The lead goal-scorer of the Starlets, Ransford Osei also failed to shine with his only chance coming in the 39th minute when his header was perfectly saved by the Spaniards goalie, who performed marvellously well to save his side from defeat.

Chances upon chances from both sides failed to yield any fruitful results and but for the intervention of Eric Opoku in time added on in the first half, the Starlets would have conceded its first goal. Opoku defended well and scooped the ball out of the goal line to the relief of few Ghanaian fans and the technical bench when the goal hungry-looking Spaniards found their way into the Starlets goal area. The resumption of the second half did not see much difference as the Spaniards kept mounting a sustained pressure in search for goals. The introduction of Abeiku Quansah, whom some Korean sports journalists said did not deserve to be on the bench in a crucial match such as this, could also not salvage the situation.

The Spaniards however managed to break the deadlock in the 77th minute throughby Daniel Aquino when he received a cross from the left wing and made no mistake to find the net to register the first goal. The goal silenced the stadium since the Koreans had favoured and supported the Ghanaians but 'wonder' striker Sadick Adams revived Ghana's hopes three minutes later when defied a dangerous attack on him and meander unto the wings before delivering a terrible shot into the far corner of the net for the equalizer in the 80th minute. The game from then became a ding dong affair with for both sides on full flight and it remained difficult to fully predict the winner as the two sides played with equal strength, resilience and determination before referee Salvio Fagundes Filho of Brazil ended the match for the commencement of an extra time of 30 minutes.

The Spaniards had the upper hand of the game and when it seemed the match was to be decided on penalties, the Spaniards had a free-kick right at the edge of Ghana's goal area.

The kick was brilliantly taken for danger man Bojan to surge forward to once again silence the Starlets in 26th minute of the extra time to score the winning goal to end Ghana's dream.

The defeat brings to two for the Starlets, all by European teams in the tournament, after Ghana lost 2-3 in the group stages to Germany. This is also the first time that Spain has been able to defeat Ghana since the commencement of the tournament.

Ghana would be next meet either Germany or Nigeria on Sunday for the third and fourth place positions.

Nigeria and Germany would play their semi-final match on Thursday to decide on who goes to the finals. 05 Sept. 07