The Black Stars of Ghana began their AFCON campaign on a jerky note as they suffered an awful, fretful and uninspiring one zero defeat in the hands of Morocco at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde.
The four-time African champions were thoroughly insipid in the game, with the Moroccans dominant in every sphere of the contest.
Morocco enjoyed over sixty percent (60%) of ball possession in the first department of the game searching for the opener but could not find the breakthrough due to exquisite defending from the Black Stars’ defence. Wolves’ centre back, Roman Saiss nearly broke the game’s virginity in the closing stages of the first half after his header from a free-kick beat goalkeeper Joseph Wolocott but narrowly missed the target. On the stroke of halftime, Ghana nearly took an unlikely lead as Joseph Painstil skied Andy Yiadom’s pass from the counter over the face of goals.
The Atlas Lions carried their dominance into the second half of the match but struggled to carve out a meaningful goalscoring opportunity, with the Black Stars virtually throwing in the towel.
The North African giants’ dominance yielded dividends in the 83rd minute after Sofiane Boufal kept their Ghanaian defence into sixes and sevens to place the ball at the bottom right corner of the net.
Ghana was unable to draw level thanks to their sluggish and toothless attack. The result has propelled to the top spot in Group C as it stands.
Ghana come up against Gabon on January 14 while Morocco entertain tournament debutants Comoros.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Elijah Beyeni Yenibey|Ghana
