The Senior male national team, the Black Stars of Ghana, has recorded an impressive 2-0 win against fellow World Cup-bound Switzerland in the final warm-up game ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Debut goals from Mohammed Salisu and Antoine Semenyo were enough for Ghana to send Portugal a warning ahead of the meeting on November 24, 2022 in the Group H opener.
Coach Otto Addo featured a strong starting 11 despite leaving out some household names such as Arsenals star, Thomas Partey and Ajax talisman, Mohammed Kudus. Southampton versatile defender, Mohammed Salisu and Leister City’s Daniel Amartey partnered in defense while Alexander Djiku was rested.
Ghana created the better chances from the start but had to wait 20 minutes to the end of the game to score the opener. Switzerland had the first sight at goal six minutes in but Ruben Vergas, who was set free at the left side of attack, sliced his effort wide.
Few minutes later, Hearts of Oak’s talisman, Daniel Afriyie, who started the game, had his shot collected calmly by Sommer minutes later. Jordan Ayew recorded Ghana’s second shot on target after 23 minutes with a feeble effort from the edge of the box.
Inaki Williams missed the target by a whisker from a well-taken Jordan Ayew corner in the 32nd minute. The Black Stars’ best chance came with two minutes to the end of the first-half when Salisu skied a perfect Jordan Ayew set-piece. The first period ended 0-0.
Improved second half
Noah Okafor shot just over Ati-Zigi’s post two minutes into the second-half as the Swiss tried to catch Ghana cold. However, the Black Stars grew stronger afterwards and long after, Inaki Williams sent in a teasing cross from the right but Jordan Ayew arrived late and could not make a connection.
The Black Stars continued their dominance in the second half and were rewarded when Mohammed Salisu found the opener for Ghana after a few ricochets with a header that went into the right corner of the net in the 70th minute.
Four minutes later, Bristol City’s, Antoine Semenyo doubled the Black Stars’ lead when he converted a rebound, following Kamaldeen Sulemana’s impressive solo run.
Salis Abdul Samed and Kamal Sowah were handed their debuts as some of the players were rested for the crucial clash against Portugal.
Ranked the lowest among the 32 teams heading to Qatar 2022, not much is expected of the Black Stars but today’s performance sent a strong warning to all Group H teams – Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea – that the West African nation has the arsenal to cause an upset.
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