Ghana trounce Egypy 6-1 in World Cup 2014 1st leg qualifier

by Frederick Quaye

In my preview yesterday, I likened Ghana’s World Cup first leg play-off qualifier with Egypt in Kumasi to the 5-1 drubbing two-time African Club Champions, Asante Kotoko, gave to Zamalek in 1987.

However, I did not think they would be able to overwhelm the Pharaohs the way they did to achieve a lopsided 6-1 record performance at the Baba Yara Stadium this evening.

Just as in 1987 during which Kotoko led Zamalek by 3-1 on the half-way mark, the Black Stars of Ghana mirrored that result with an Asamoah Gyan strike, complemented by a Wael Goma own goal, then a Mohammed Aboutrika penalty conversion before Majeed Warris restored the 2 goal cushion to Ghana.

In 1987, the second half was all Kotoko and the dominance was reflected in two goals from midfield strongman, Sarfo Gyamfi and power forward, Saraah-Mensah; however in the second half of this evening’s match, the Black Stars nailed the 7 time African Champions with three goals from Gyan, Sulley Muntari and Christian Atsu to complete the 6-1 hiding.

In my preview I implied that the injured defenders John Boye, Isaac Vorsah and Jonathan Mensah won’t be missed. Indeed their absences were not felt with the exception of a mistake by Rachid Sumaila that resulted in the penalty converted by an Aboutrika who was a mere shadow of himself.

On a personal level I think the Egyptians were defeated long before the match. Who would be able to take the festive and massive support Kumasi fans give to their beloved Black Stars?

The unrelenting chants of praise and “oje” songs will be enough to drive the fear of God into any side that plays in the BabaYara Stadium.

The early goals also did their bit to unsettle the Pharaohs and even more so the Ghana strategy of taking the fight to Egypt from the whistle,totally deflated the usual flow of their game.

  At first glance, this unprecedented massive score line against the Pharaohs of Egypt gives the Black Stars of Ghana an almost automatic ticket to Brazil.

However, an appeal by the Ghana Football Association to FIFA to play their return leg in a neutral place due to the unstable situation in Egypt will not affect the aggregate outcome.

I daresay the ticket to Brazil has been truly booked regardless of the venue of the return leg match which is slated for next month.

Ghana v Egypt World Cup 2014 Qualifier Preview by Frederick Quaye

Ghana v Egypt World Cup 2014 Qualifier Preview by Frederick Quaye on Oct 14, 2013

When the Pharaohs trot into the Baba Yara Stadium tomorrow against the Black Stars of Ghana in a 2014 World Cup playoff 1^ST leg qualifier, they will be seeking to achieve two things.

One, and the most important is to qualify for the 2014 World Cup and then second, to erase the 5-1 mammoth  defeat handed down by Kotoko to Zamalek in 1987 on that same grassy pitch. To achieve the second one, they must also fulfill the first.

Going into that match, Kumasi Asante Kotoko were trailing by a 2-0 deficit from the first leg played in Egypt. A few minutes into that match, Zamalek struck what many thought was the death blow when a seemingly easy ball slipped the grasp of goalie Mohammed Odoom for the first goal.

What happened within the hour afterward is the stuff legends are built on. Before half time Kotoko were up 3-1 and by the 84^th, Saraah Mensah had manufactured the icing on the cake just after Sarfo Gyamfi’s long ranger.

As the Black Stars attempt to qualify for their third consecutive World Cup, they will come out with that same legendary stuff that Kotoko produced on that day some 26 years ago and their recent 3-0 drubbing of the Egyptians to destroy the 100 percent record of the Pharaohs in the World Cup qualifiers so far.

The Black Stars have in the last World Cup also defeated Bob Bradley’s USA for a quarter final spot and that same manager is behind Egypt now, seeking revenge. Will he able to achieve it in Kumasi? I very much doubt it.

Why do I say that? It is simply because the Black Stars defense which needed a tweaking ahead of this match to cater for the unexpected injuries to three defenders would still hold against any Egyptian onslaught. Toss in  the baying fans in an overflow cavern of a stadium, clad in  fervent and giddy red, gold and green, and any footballer who enters that atmosphere will invariably give way to quaky knees.

Mohammed Awal, Edwin Gyimah and Rachid Sumaila who have been drafted in to replace regular defenders John Boye, Jonathan Mensah and Isaac Vorsah have been playing understudy for some time and they have already played in international matches so they are not going to be awed by the occasion.

In fact, Kwasi Appiah, himself an ‘untested’ left back when he famously excelled and tamed the fearsome Zairean winger,Mayele  Ayele in 1982 ,prior to Ghana’s qualification to Africa Cup Of Nations  in Libya, has the experience firsthand to take out the Egyptians in Kumasi.

” 'I have never relied on one particular player, I always believe that as a team you prepare and make sure you have very good substitutes so that when you have issues of players getting injury you can replace them,'' he told Joy sports

''And if other players had not been given the opportunity and used, it would have been very difficult at this moment. Fortunately for us, we have a very strong group that we can always depend on.''

Bob Bradley, a former U.S manager whose team fell against Ghana at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, warns that the man to watch is the Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan. “Gyan is a difficult player because he can be invisible for long periods in a match…So we will try and keep him out of our dangerous areas but I know it will be difficult…”

However, Bradley also says that they will play intelligently Gedo, Aboutrika and co will find the going very tough tomorrow because they will run into a team that will ask no quarters and leave no quarters on the field. In the words of Andre Ayew,” hopefully on Tuesday we will have a great game and we will win massively.”

The mix of experience and youth might just be what Egypt needs on the night however whether Wael Gomaa, Mohammed Aboutrika and the young striker Mohammed Salah are able to achieve their two goals   will be seen on Tuesday.Remember that Zamalek thought they had it all sewn up in 1987 and their team which dominated by Al-Ahly and Zamalek players will be in for a similar shock to what happened in Kumasi a quarter century ago.

Ghana v England

Ghana v England: A Preview-By Frederick Quaye

By now you would have heard that England coach Fabio Capello has released Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, and back-to –Bataan captain John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard of Chelsea after their 2-0 triumph over Wales in a 2012 Euro qualifier. This means these players will not feature tomorrow against Ghana in London in the first ever match between the two sides which pits former colonial master against former colony if you will.

Some have claimed that these players are very important to their teams’ European Champions league quarterfinal s to be played on April 6 when Chelsea face Manchester United in a grudge match. Remember Chelsea lost the Champions league Final against Manchester United 2 years ago on penalties.

Anyway back to the point. Some have said it is just a ploy by Capello to escape blame if in-form Ghana beats his side on Tueday.Neequaye Addison of Dallas says” They are so afraid Ghana will disgrace them that he had to drop these guys so a defeat would be seen as against a watered-down England”. However others have also argued that whether watered -down or not Capello’s side is England.

Still, others have maintained that dropping players is normal. Germany also released captain Philip Lamm and Real Madrid pair Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira for their friendly against Australia tomorrow. However Neequaye Addison maintains that that is different. Austria are minnows in football, however Ghana who have been to two successive World Cups [2006, 2010] where the qualified for the second round and quarters respectively cannot be termed minnows. So the Italian must have an agenda which is to steal away the glory should Ghana win and take the glory should Ghana lose.” he said.

Indeed this friendly may invoke memories of USA'S shock 1-0 win over England in Belo Horizonte in 1950,except that there are really very few gaps between Ghana and England in terms of skill. In fact Ghana may boast more technically gifted players than Merry Olde England but the game they introduced to Ghana has become Ghana's .So much so that they threaten to overcome England's old school football. Ghana should not find it difficult playing against England because they are familiar with their style and they have an additional style of their own. So welcome to football for the eyes.

Whatever it is on paper England are favorites ranked sixth on the FIFA Rankings while Ghana are 15^th.However, the only times the two have met are in the FIFA U-20 tournaments in Australia 1993 and Egypt 2009.In the first encounter in Sydney, finalists Ghana won 2-1 with goals from Augustine Ahinful and Mohammed Gargo while Jamie Pollock replied for his country in the semis. Ghana overran them in Egypt 4-0 two years ago on the way to becoming World U-20 champions.

So for Ghana, there is no fear only high expectation with at least 5 players from their U-20 world championship side including Andre Ayew, Dominic Adiyiah, Ransford Osei and Jonathan Mensah and Samuel Inkoom that they will bloody the eyes of their former colonial masters for good measure. I think Ghana has a very committed group of players who although were not expected to qualify for the second round at the 2010 World Cup almost slid into the semis but for a Suarez hand of God incident. England who were expected to go as far as the semis, slunk out at the second round. England may have a lot to fear from Ghana.

Indeed with players as Sunderland trio Asamoah Gyan, John Mensah and Sulley Muntari and Schalke’s Annan, among the original group that played the World Cup, The Three Lions who are reportedly going to field an entirely different XI should have a lot to fear from 4-time African champions Black Stars. They are playing their best football at this stage enough for them to overrun England and make nonsense of the FIFA rankings.

But others have also said that Terry,Lampard and Cole an England team do not make.So there are others equally good to don the England jersey.Jack Wilshere,Darren Bent,Ashley Young are the young turks Ghana should be looking out for. Especially with Wilshere fearlessly manning the England midfield with Scott Parker in attendance and speeding Aaron Lennon on the wings,Ghana could come up against a very comfortable side who would carry the game to the visitors.Combative Gareth Barry who is expected to wear the captains band will support the defence which could feature Jgielka, Lescott and Johnson.We will see how things play out tomorrow but I expect nothing short of fireworks with Ghana slightly on top.

Perhaps it would be more pragmatic to peg FIFA rankings to World Cup performance? At the World Cup2006, debutants Ghana were not expected to qualify from the group which included eventual winners Italy, Czech Republic [then ranked #2] ,the USA [then ranked #4]. Ghana made a no brainer of the FIFA rankings blowing away the Czech Republic and USA to qualify for the second round. If indeed Ghana does win then they would have made a case for a revision of FIFA Rankings?

Whatever happens on the pitch tomorrow, Fabio Capello would have no excuses and I feel Ghana has enough chemistry to soundly beat England at home to make history.

usa v england south africa world cup 2010

The match just kicked off and I wonder how you guys are feeling out there.For me it is the USA, where i have lived for a long time and although I still have some heart strings pulling when I hear God Save the Queen,I am a Yank now.
....Gerrard just scored a goal!.. a mixup in the heart of US defense and its clinical for the Three Lions in the fourth minute,late challenge by Clark could not hold the England captain off.They punished our lack of concentration!
My heart is all racing now and I can concentrate on typing and watching the match. However,we still have hope, the night is yet young..
My kids are screaming behind me..Daddy can we win?I tell them yes, we can!We just have to pass this test of character..In the legendary Martin Tyler's words ...the World Cup is a funy event and could favor any team. I totally agree.Because we are not intimidated we can pull this off.I believe the worst result would be a draw or even stevens as Martin Tyler would say.
For England,this is a grudge match for the shock 1-0 defeat at the 1950 World Cup atBelo Horizonte Sixty years on we are in a match that defies description but which holds the key for us to stamp our brand.For us it is to underscore the notion that we can play.. and we play second fiddle no mas!
But for now I guess I will sit back and enjoy the match.I would have loved to see Buddle behind Altidore with Gomez in midfield,but hey lets see how this selection plays out.Capello is an astute strategist-he replaced Milner who was routinely being turned inside out by Cherundolo and brings in swift Wright Philips who turns the heat on Cherundolo....
Anyway,we are even stevens!,courtesy a 40th minute strike by my fellow Texan Clint Dempsey,what a strike!Strategic just before the interval.

Peace in the World,for all peoples

Today the CAN 2010 kicked off under the shadow of the attack on Team Togo in the Cabinda Province.This is partly a tribute to the fallen and also to the fact that these conflicts in the continent should be taken care of.Governments must see these as priority so that peace in the continent would be ensured.
Additionally,people and groups who foment these conflicts for their profit must know that The Almighty GOD will protect and defend his people. One day we will all stand before Him and give an account of what we did in this body whether good or bad.
My passion is for God's peace in all the earth,I am also very 'soccerlistic' and would like people to make stories I write about life in these United States for Africans.