CAPE COAST (GHANA), The Black Stars of Ghana have been crowned Champions of the West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup of Nations in magnificent style after they mauled arch-rivals Nigeria 4-1 at the Cape Coast stadium to retain the trophy which they won in 2013 – the last time the tournament was hosted.
Two goals from Stephen Sarfo, a goal each from Vincent Atinga and Winful Cobbinah sealed the victory for Ghana but the Nigerians pulled one back through Ali Rabiu in the 90th minute.
The game got off to a good start and although the rains came down in the early hours of the day that did not deter the fans from enjoying what as a real football spectacle.
After several attempts from both teams to score Stephen Sarfo found the net in the 44th minute to put Black Stars in the lead right before half time.
The Nigerians attempted to rescue the game in the 2nd half but pushing men forward left them venerable led to two penalties which were expertly taken by Stephen Sarfo and Vincent Atinga in the 60th and 77th minute respectivel.
Winful Cobbinah put the icing on the cake on the stroke of full time to make it 4 but there was time left for Nigeria to grab the consolation goal in added time.
Meanwhile, a goal in each half from Idrissa Halidou and Victorien Adebayor handed Niger the bronze medal after beating Benin 2-1 in a third/fourth place play-off match at Cape Coast Sports Stadium on Sunday.
On the half hour mark the Menas took the lead when Idrissa Halidou met a low right-wing cross from Boubacar Hainikoye and expertly turned the ball home from 12-yards out, 1-0 at half-time.
The final 20 minutes of the second-half saw Benin push forward in search of an equaliser and in doing so left themselves exposed at the back, a fact Niger took full advantage of with a counter-attack in the 85th minute which saw Victorien Adebayor find the back of the net, 2-0.
Benin did find some consolation in the dying seconds of the game when Nabil Yarou poked the ball home following a goalmouth scramble, 2-1.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK
