The Black Stars of Ghana have snatched the available World Cup ticket from Nigeria after a 1-1 draw at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja on Tuesday evening in the second leg of their two legged tie in the play offs for the African continent’s qualifiers.
The 1-1 draw means Ghana qualify for Qatar 2022 on the away goals rule after the first leg ended 0-0 in Kumasi.
Coach Otto Addo’s led technical team outclassed their Nigerian opponent after the two games with some tactical display the like of which hasn’t been seen with the Black Stars of Ghana for a long time.
Ghana opened the scoring just 10minutes after kick off with a goal from captain on the day Thomas Teye Partey. This means Thomas Teye Partey keeps his record of never loosing any game for the Black Stars when he has started as captain. Achieving this in six matches now.
However Nigeria equalized just ten minutes later when Troost Ekong scored from the penalty spot after Ademola Lookman was adjuged to have been fouled in the Ghanaian penalty area.
The 1-1 proved to be the final result as Ghana defended resolutely coupled with impressive substitutions from the technical team to deny the Nigerians any goal to win the tie.
The result means Ghana will go into the pot when the draw for the final tournament is made on Friday at 11:00am.
Later on Tuesday Senegal also edged out Egypt to also book their place after winning the second leg 1-0 to take the tie to extra time and subsequently penalties. Just like in the AFCON final earlier Sadio Mane scored the winning penalty after the first four kicks from both teams were not scored. Senegal won 3-1 on penalties.
Morocco booked their place after beating DR Congo 4-1 to complete a double and a 5-1 aggregate score over the two legs.
Tunisia qualified 1-0 on aggregate after a goalless draw with Mali having won the first leg 1-0 in Mali.
The drama was in Algeria where Cameroon left it late to snatch victory at the jaws of defeat. Algeria having won 1-0 when the two sides met in the first leg conceded a 22nd minute goal from E. M. Choupo-Moting for Cameroon. The game went into extra time after a 1-1 aggregate score.
Algeria thought they had done it when they scored through Ahmed Touba in the 118th minute of extra time but Cameroon had the last laugh when Karl Toko Ekambi scored in added time after extra time on 120+4minutes.
Even though the tie ends 2-2 on aggregate, Cameroon qualified on away goals rule breaking Algerian hearts.
Disturbances also broke out at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja after Ghana’s qualification against Nigeria. Nigerian fans invaded the pitch destroying chairs in the process. Reports on Wednesday morning claim several people have been injured and a CAF official died in the clashes. CAF is however yet to confirm this report.
