Ghana give themselves a chance

Ghana have given themselves a slim chance at reaching the knock-out stages of the FIFA U-20 World Cup after a superb 4-1 victory over the now-eliminated USA.

Ebenezeer Assifuah's brace, sandwiched between Frank Acheampong and Kennedy Ashia's goals, see the side from West Africa on three points with a goal difference of zero in Group A, meaning they must wait to see if they progress as one of four third-place sides.

Ghana started the brighter side, with a drilled cross leading to an acrobatic effort from Assifuah, before Moses Odjer fired narrowly over from a free-kick. Mario Rodriguez then had a great opening at the other end but, rising alone, he mistimed his header.

Both teams were giving it their all, with any hope of progression for either side requiring a win in Kayseri, and Frank Acheampong optimised that with a blistering run, but Cody Cropper was equal to the resulting shot. The quick feet of Rodriguez followed suit for USA, but his effort was a tame one. Eric Antwi was called into action shortly after though, producing a strong diving save to deny Jose Villarreal, who struck with real venom from all of 30 yards.

Cropper's next act was an even better stop, coming after Lawrence Lartey blocked an effort which the keeper had dived to prevent. Prone on the floor, a goal looked certain but as the Ghanaian shot, the Southampton stopper stuck out a hand to deny him.

Assifuah missed a chance to turn the ball away shortly after, but Acheampong opened the scoring on 38 minutes, pouncing on a defensive mix-up to give Ghana the lead. He almost doubled his tally right after the break, forcing Cropper into a fine finger-tip save, with Assifuah's goal-bound follow-up blocked.

After working away for so much of the game Assifuah finally got his goal, and it was a well taken one at that. Receiving the possession on the edge of the box, the Liberty Professionals forward worked the ball onto his right foot and found half-a-yard to squeeze a fierce shot into the top corner beyond Cropper.

Shane O'Neill had the chance to halve the deficit, drawing a fine save from Antwi while one-on-one, but he made no mistake moments later, heading into the bottom corner to give the USA hope. The North Americans pushed on, Cuevas forcing a save from Antwi, but when Assifuah headed home with 12 minutes to go, the writing was on the wall.

Ashia's late strike, shooting from a tight angle through the legs of Cropper, made no difference to the destination of the points, it gives Ghana added hope of progress.


Source: FIFA.com