Down, out - 10-man Ghana humble Super Eagles

By Our Reporter - 04.02.2008

FOR the second time within 12 months, Frenchman, Claude LeRoy led the Black Stars of Ghana to beat the Super Eagles, sending the Nigerian side out of the ongoing Ghana 2008 Nations Cup.

The Stars came from behind to beat the Eagles 2-1 in the tension-soaked match in which the Ghanaian team played one man short for more than 32 minutes after captain, John Mensah, got the Algerian referee’s marching order for a professional foul on Osaze Odemwingie.

The Eagles took the lead on 34 minutes through a penalty scored by Yakubu Aiyegbeni after he was pulled down by Eric Addo, but Michael Essien equalised on the dot of 45 minute.

With eight minutes to the end of the game, Junior Agogo put Ghana into the semi-finals with a close-range finish. LeRoy had last February led the Ghanaian side to drub the Eagles 4-1 in an international friendly played at Brentford Stadium in London.

The Frenchman, who beat Nigeria with Cameroun in the final of Maroc ’88, said after the match that his side had the quality which it put into use against Nigeria.

“There’s great team spirit in my side, and I believe they used the quality to go all the way against the Super Eagles,” LeRoy told journalists after the match.