Ghana’s Black Satellites in one of the most difficult circumstances shocked Brazil to lift their first and Africa’s first gold in the history of the U20 championships.
And it took 120 minutes of goalless nerve-racking football, with ten men and a 4-3 penalty victory to exorcise the Brazilian ghost which has long haunted the Satellites.
Agyemang Badu, with equally a man-of-the-match performance, converted the last kick to glory but the exploits of goal keeper Daniel Agyei cannot be overemphasized.
The Brazilians were gunning for their fifth gold and it was all looking manifest in the opening 30 minutes of the game. Nearly a minute and half into the game, the Ghanaians had not kicked the ball.
The sweet playing South American side assaulted the goal area of the Satellites, and in the 3rd minute, Dalton, proved why he is a central defender, when he dug his head into a superb cross from Douglass in Ghana's final third. His efforts went flying high into the sky and to Ghana's relief.
The Satellites were left off the hook in the ninth minute after a delectable free kick missed Henrique's head and the goalpost by inches.
The Brazilians knocked the ball around in no hurry at all for a goal, and kept the Satellites chasing their shadows.
The underdogs lifted up their game but the only opportunity to punish goalkeeper Rafael was missed by serial goal scorer Dominic Adiyiah.
Just when their confidence was soaring after a scrappy opening, the bombshell came with a straight red card flashed in a rather controversial circumstances to defender Daniel Addo in the 38th minute.
Samuel Inkoom contributed to the woes of the defender, when he needlessly gave away the ball to the Brazilians and in a counter attack left Addo helpless, bringing his attacker down in the process and attracting a straight red card.
But truth be told, the Belgian referee, Frank DE BLEECKERE, was harsh with his call.
Agyemang Badu was pulled back to assist Jonathan Mensah in the heart of defence and the two did a superb job albeit some desperate moments.
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