World XI beat Essien's Africa XI

Chelsea and England defender Ashley Cole scored a goal as he led a select World XI side to beat a Michael Essien-captained Africa XI side 4-2 at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium in Accra today.

The charity game which coincided with the African Union (AU) Day was to help promote peace in Africa and forms part of the Ghana international's commitment to raising the awareness of peace on the continent using football.


For the World XI, Nick Hamman-Lockwood Matt was in goals as they also featured Nigel de Jong, Freddie Ljungberg, Yaw Preko, Ellis Tebbunt, Quincy Owusu Abeyie, Jalloh Musa Akeem, Ashley Cole, Florenet Malouda, Scott Smith.


The Essien-led side included Richard Kinsgon, Nkwankwo Kanu, Stephen Appiah, Kalusha Bwalya, Sammy Kuffour, Asamoah Gyan, John Painstil, Salomon Kalou, Rabah Madjer, Yakubu Aiyegbeni.


On a rainy Wednesday afternoon, both sides fielded some ex-internationals from the continent and thrilled the crowd some good football, though slow paced.

But when Zambia legend Kalusha Bwalya opened the scoring for the Africa XI with a header, it set the tone for an opener encounter as Scott Smith equalized and former Ghana star, Yaw Preko gave the World XI side a 2-1 lead into the break.


Ivorian, Didier Drogba came off the bench to level for the Africa XI team but his Chelsea colleagues, Florent Malouda and captain Cole put the game beyond them with two more goals.


Ex-Ghana striker Tony Yeboah and Nigeria legend Daniel Amokachi all made second half appearances for the Africa select side.