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Ghana hammer Nigerians
LONDON (AFP) - Ghana will believe they conclusively proved that they are Africa´s strongest football nation after hammering Nigeria 4-1 in their international friendly in west London.
The Black Stars had not beaten their west African neighbours in 15 years, but this, their biggest win over Nigeria since 1960, was as emphatic as they come.
Level at half-time, Ghana took control in the early minutes of the second half.
With 50 minutes played, Stephen Appiah laid in Asamoah Gyan, drawing a smart save from Vincent Enyeama.
The ball, though, was never fully cleared, and when it fell to Laryea Kingston, he advanced two paces, and smashed a low drive from 22 yards into the bottom corner.
For the winger, recently signed by Hearts, it was a moment of catharsis. Suspended from the World Cup after CAF took draconian action following a minor spat with Senegal´s Habib Beye during the African Nations Cup a year ago, he had seemed noticeably keen to make his mark.
Involved in most of Ghana´s most enterprising play in the first half, his heavenward glance after scoring spoke volumes of his emotion at setting Ghana on their way to a win that will reverberate through the annals of the region´s football history.
Three minutes later it got even better for Ghana, as Sulley Muntari, finding space on the left side of the box, worked the ball onto his right foot before lashing it into the top corner of the net. And by the hour, it was three, Junior Agogo deftly converting a right-wing cross from Gyan.
A 64th-minute Taye Taiwo penalty, smacked home after John Utaka had been tripped, gave Nigeria some hope, but that was dashed with 13 minutes remaining.
Asamoah Frimpong had been on the field only a minute when he seized on the loose ball as Michael Essien bundled into the box, and stroked a low shot into the corner.
Nigeria, in truth, were comprehensively outplayed, far from their billing as the highest-ranked African team according to Fifa´s statistics.
From start to finish Ghana looked the better organised. It helped, to start with, that they turned up on time, left waiting 30 minutes for Nigeria, who do little to avert the sense that they teeter forever on a precipice of their own making.
Not that they were the only ones whose organisational ability was called into question on Wednesday night.
Long queues formed outside the ground, with ticket staff apparently over-run, and the stewarding was utterly ineffectual in the face of repeated pitch invasions.
They were, it should be stressed, borne of glee and not in the least bit threatening, but in the context of recent events across Europe, security is not a matter to be taken lightly.
For Nigeria, there was the question of who would turn up. Newcastle forward Obafemi Martins did not, obeying manager Glenn Roeder´s wishes to stay with his club.
Julius Aghahowa, recently signed by Wigan Athletic, did, despite expectations, and so too did Mikel Jon Obi, apparently defying the wishes of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.
Austin Eguavoen, who will step aside as Nigeria manager to be replaced by former German handler Berti Vogts later this week had criticised Mourinho for his efforts to keep Mikel out of the game, and he brooked no compromise, keeping the midfielder on the field until the final whistle.
Even Mikel, though, could not prevent Eguavoen´s reign ending in the ignominy of a crushing defeat.
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