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Laryea Kingston's goal inspires Black Satellites to Africa trophy
Exactly 17 years today, the U-20 football team of Ghana earned a 1-0 victory over their Nigerian counterparts in the Africa Youth Championship
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A 39th-minute superb strike by midfielder Laryea Kingston was all that the Satellites needed to lift the trophy the second time (1993 and '99) to become champions over four-time winners, Flying Eagles, who won it in 1983, '85, '87 and '89.
President Jerry John Rawlings decorated the Satellites with the gold medals and presented the trophy to skipper Hamza Mohammed amidst wild cheers from the 50,000 crowd including Vice-president professor John Atta Mills, FIFA president Sepp Blatter and CAF president Issa Hayatou.
In addition, the Satellites received a Compact Disc each of Daddy Lumba's "Aben wo ha" album, donated by Despite Music Productions. Nigeria had the silver medals and picked the FIFA fair-play Cup, donated by President Rawlings.
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Cameroon, who had earlier beaten Zambia 2-1 in the third place play-off, received the bronze medals.
The goal-king award went to Guinea's skipper Bangoura Osumane, who scored the highest four goals.
The Satellites would be first to admit that it was a hard victory as they had to stretch every sinew to defend the lone goal, especially in the second half in which the Nigerians dominated the game for a considerable length of time. The Flying Eagles had the better of the exchanges right from kick off while the Ghanaians played a cautious game at the midfield and defence to keep the Nigerian strikers Haruna Babangida and Pius Ikedia at bay. Playing in a typical Italian 4-5-2 formation, the Satellites relied mostly on diminutive striker Owusu Afriyie, who thrilled the crowd with his surging runs.
The Nigerians, backed by their drum-beating supporters, singing their popular song "He's a miracle working God", nearly snatched the opener in the 16th minute but inside right Hashimu Garba's diving header from a corner kick missed the post narrowly. Urged on by the home crowd, the Satellites caught the Flying Eagles on the break and Laryea Kingston's long pass found Johnson Eklu, who after racing into the penalty area from the left flank, gave a nice lob. Kingston latched onto the ball, which had beaten Baffour Gyan, and planted it into the far right corner of the net for the only goal of the match, considered as the toughest in the tournament. The goal was greeted with a thunderous applause from the fans and on the scoreboard was an inscription of highlife Star Daddy Lumba's "Aben wo ha". Just a minute after the goal, central defender Issah Abdul Rahman was pulled out for Theophilus Amuzu to take his place.
The Nigerians made several threatening attempts at goal especially in the second half but they were, most of the time, held in check by the Ghanaian defence men. The Satellites were put under severe pressure from the 70th minute when their dependable defender Kofi Amoako went off for injury. He was replaced by Emmanuel Adjogu. In the 81st minute Babangida gave way to Yobo Joseph and Awuley Quaye Jnr came on for Johnson Eklu in the 88th minute, but that did not help either side.
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Line up (Ghana): Sammy Adjei, George Blay, hamza Mohammed, Kofi Amoako/Emmaneul Adjogu, Issa Abdul Rahman/Theophilus Amuzu, Abdul Razak, Owusu Afriyie, Laryea Kingston, Baffour Gyan, Aziz Ansah, Johnson Eklu/Awuley Quaye Jnr.
Nigeria: Sam Okoye, Ikenna Eneh, Emmanuel Izuagha, John Aranka, Haruna Babangida/ Joseph Yobo, Garba Hashimu, Aminu Sani/Moses Aduku, Musa Abubakar, Pius Ikeda, Rabiu Afolabi and Sunday Adu.
Alhaji M. N. D. Jawula, chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), commenting on Ghana's 1-0 win over Nigeria in the finals of Ghana '99 said the Black Satellites' victory was a "sign of good things to come". "With togetherness, unity and support, the country can achieve a lot just as we have all witnessed here today," the GFA boss said in an interview after the match. He said the high standards exhibited in the tournament should be an indication that African teams would pose a threat to countries from Europe and South America, come Nigeria '99.
He said the Black satellites' squad would be beefed up with two more Ghanaian international stars for the World FIFA/Coca Cola youth championship in Nigerian next month. The two are Stephen Appiah, who plays for Italian first division side, Udinese and Peter Ofori-Quaye, who features for Olympiakos in Greece. The GFA boss said the services of these two players are needed to strengthen the Satellites' midfield and attack respectively in Nigeria. Coach, Guisseppe Dossena attributed the victory to hard work on the part of his players.
" The players improved match after match and I am happy we have won the Cup", he said. He, however, admitted that there is more work to be done before the team leaves for Nigeria next month. " Ghana is in a tough group with Croatia, Kazakhstan and Argentina, who are the current world youth champions and we therefore, have to prepare well", he said.
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The Nigeria Coach, Tunde Disu said his boys played better than the Ghanaians and that it was unfortunate they lost. He said Garba Hashimu's 58th minute equaliser that was over- ruled for offside by referee Guezzaz Mohammed of Morocco affected the morale of the Flying Eagles. " However, I believe in destiny and therefore I believe Nigeria were not destined to win this Cup" he said. Coach Disu said the two sides played very well, " I hope we meet again in any future competition so that we can avenge this defeat", he added.
The Flying Eagles slippery winger, Haruna Babangida, who was pulled out in the second half, expressed the hope that though they lost this Cup they could still win the world youth cup next month. He said he was not able to bring out his best in the match because he was not fully fit. Black Satellites skipper, Hamza Mohammed had this to say " it was not easy, especially in the second half. Our victory today is by the grace of God".
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