Ooo Charlie…Nigeria bows to Ghana again as Falcons fumble in USA

By George Aluo

Ghana after stopping Nigeria from being in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup has again dealt another blow on the country.

This time our Ghanaian ‘broders’ stopped the home Eagles from landing in Algeria for the home Nations Cup (Chan 2023).

The Super Eagles B came pretty close but eventually lost out on penalties after a flaming battle with the Black Galaxies of Ghana ended in penalty shoout-out heartache at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday evening.

Ghana won the first leg in Cape Coast 2-0 courtesy of a penalty kick award early in the second half and a late goal scored on the counter, and opted for a contain-and-counter strategy in Nigeria’s administrative capital. The plan worked for large swathes of an encounter dominated by the Eagles B, but two well-taken second half goals by Muhammed Zulkifilu and Chijioke Akuneto drew the fixture level and meant the lottery of penalties would decide the winner.

Substitute Morice Chukwu crashed his kick, Nigera’s third, against the crossbar in the shootout to hand Ghana the ticket to be at next year’s 7th African Nations Championship finals. He was the only one who failed to score from the spot as Ghana won 5-4.

 In the United States of America (USA) Super Falcons who have since lost their mojo in Morocco during the African Women’s Championship failed to rise to the occasion against US in an international friendly at the Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday.

The nine-time African champions had in their ranks four members of the U20 girls who reached the quarter finals of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica last month, and missed the services of midfield Trojans Ngozi Okobi-Okoeghene and Halimatu Ayinde. Defender and captain Onome Ebi, who got injured during the Women AFCON finals in Morocco, is still on the sidelines.

Sophia Smith put the home team ahead in the 14th minute, and Lindsay Horan made it two after 25 minutes. With the first half winding down, Smith made it three from a simple tap-in just into time-added-on, with goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie at sea.

Seven minutes into the second period, Alex Morgan made it four for the Americans from the penalty spot.

Both teams will clash again in the second of a two-match tour at the Audi Field in Washington D. C on Tuesday.