Ghana's Satellites Spank Angola 5 1

Ghana's Black Satellites' campaign to December's African Youth Championship in Rwanda took off on a perfect note as they spanked Angola 5-1 in their first qualifier played at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra on Sunday. The Satellites, yearning to qualify for the competition Ghana missed out in the last two editions, produced an amazing first half performance that gave birth to four neat and convincing goals. In front of a sparse crowd at the 44,000-seater arena, the Ghanaians jumped into a great start and orchestrated many moves but missed goal-scoring opportunities whenever they approached the Angolan's final third. After 11 minutes of play, Angola was to stun the Satellites with the opener that came as a result of a counter attack after the visitors had survived a Ghanaian invasion. Mario Queta sent a pile driver to the roof of the Ghanaian net, when the ball was shot from the right flank, hit the foot of advancing Goalkeeper Joseph Addo and fell at his feet, to put his side into the lead. Having thus been bruised, Ghana reacted immediately and succeeded in cancelling the lead four minutes later. Mohammed Alhassan's quick break from the middle caught the Angolan defence flatfooted and the former Liberty Professionals player delivered a cool finish to set the tone for the massacre. The Satellites held dominance with a goal beckoning with every move and after 22 minutes of play, Saddick Adams consolidated Ghana's lead from a dead ball just outside the Angolan's penalty area. Advancing Alhassan was brought flying down and when referee Soumah Lamin rightly awarded Ghana the advantage, the Athletico Madrid player took the responsibility of effecting the free kick. He sent a powerful shot that sailed through the Angolan wall straight into the net. The Hosts stepped up the tempo after the goal and two minutes after the half hour mark, Adams tore away from two defenders on the left flank, picked out Ransford Osei to head home from close range. With Ghana cruising, the confidence of the players understandably soared and Abdul Ganiyu made it four on the stroke of half time. The tempo of the game died down considerably from recess with the Angolans slightly on top in many ways. On a few occasions they created anxious moments for the Ghanaian defence marshalled around Philip Boampong but they lacked the cutting edge to stage a comeback that would have been a fair reward for their brand of fine football. Just when the game appeared to be ending with the score line unchanged, skipper Osei popped out from the middle to chip Isaac Donkor's cross in injury time to wrap up a good day for Ghana.