Ghana escape to victory vs Colombia
NEW DELHI: The game between Colombia and Ghana was expected to be a battle between possession and counter-attacking styles of football, and that was exactly what the crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was treated to in the opening Group A game of the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Both teams looked to play with pace, resulting in a high tempo match that didn’t drop in intensity even as time went on.
Yet despite Colombia having 59% possession in the first half, it was Ghana who found themselves ahead at the break.
It was a goal from Sadiq Ibrahim that gave the African nation the lead as he capped a wonderful counter-attacking move with an easy finish in the 39th minute.
It was the reward Ghana so rightfully deserved, having dominated most of the first half. In Sadiq Ibrahim had in fact scored earlier but saw his effort correctly ruled out for being offside.
Most of Ghana’s attacks in the first half came down the left wing, where Eric Ayiah was a constant nuisance for the Colombian defence.
It was skipper Ayiah who created the goal, playing in a tanta- lising cross that took Kevin Mier entirely out of the equation, leaving Sadiq Ibrahim to tap in what turned out to be the winning goal of the game.
It’s worth noting that when Ayiah switched flanks in the second half, Ghana lost their attacking spark and looked less dangerous as the game wore on.
Yet it didn’t matter too much in the end because Colombia, despite improving considerably in the second half, could not get the goal they needed to change the game and Ghana ran out deserved winners.
Orlando Restrepo had said in the pre-match press conference that his side would look to keep the ball in order to create chances. But whilst they did pass well, ending the game with 56% possession, they couldn’t find the back of the net even once.
Restrepo noted as much, stating in the post-match press conference, “We had chances but we didn’t convert them. Ghana were the better side today.”
Their best chance of the game came from substitute Deiber Caicedo, who was one-on-one with the keeper late in the second half but whose shot went inches wide of the far post.
The fact that Colombia only created one or two notable goalscoring chances is despite having most of the possession is something that will need to be worked on if they are to make the next round after Friday’s loss.