Ghana suffered a second successive heartbreak in three days when they lost the 2019 Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations third-place playoff to South Africa in a penalty shootout Friday.
Having lost out to Cote d’Ivoire via penalties in the semifinals on Tuesday, the Black Meteors were hoping to clinch bronze and Africa’s final ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at the Cairo International Stadium this afternoon.
South Africa join Egypt and Cote d’Ivoire to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after defeating Ghana 6-5 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in regulation time.
After a thrilling encounter that saw both sides performing high-level football, it was South Africa who had the last smile when they secured their place in next summer’s Olympics for the third time in their history and second successive after Rio 2016.
Ghana will return home with heads high after some breathtaking performances that gained people’s hearts, but luck wasn’t at their side at the end.
Habib Mohamed scored in his own net at the quarter-hour mark to give South Africa an early lead. Habib tried to stop Luther Singh’s cross but he wrongly turned it into his net.
The South Africans had the upper hand through the opening half but wasted many chances to double their lead as both sides went to the break with 1-0 lead for the Southern side.
The Black Meteors returned much stronger, and five minutes after the break they equalized. Evans Mensah received the outside the penalty area and sent a curling shot to beat South Africa’s goalkeeper Mondli Mpoto.
But the South Africans responded immediately. Two minutes after the hour mark, the substitute Kamohelo Mhlatsi who barely spent a minute on the pitch restored their lead, when he received Lyle Foster’s pass to send a scorcher inside the Meteors net.
And when it looked all set for South Africa’s win, Ghana scored a late equalizer. Evans Mensah rounded his marker and sent a cross that fell to substitute Samuel Obeng who made no mistake to score and restore parity yet again five minutes from time. The game was sent directly to penalty shootouts to determine the winner.
The shootout saw both sides missing twice (Kingsley Fobi and Edward Sarpong for Ghana), before South Africa’s goalkeeper Mpoto saved Emmanuel Cudjoe’s kick to send his side to Tokyo.
