•Niger claims bronze medal

By Joe Apu

The Black Stars of Ghana got their pound of flesh against Nigeria posting a 4-1 win over the Super Eagles in the final of the 2017 WAFU Cup in the final played at the Cape Coast Stadium in Ghana Sunday night.

Pressure from the Black Stars in the 33rd minute saw Goalkeeper Ezenwa Ikechukwu pull a great save to deny Isaac Twum but it was not long before Stephan Sarfo scored Ghana’s first goal in the 43rd minute of play with a clinical finish after he cooly controlled the ball on the edge of the box and fired in a low shot. No chance for Ezenwa Ikechukwu who was voted the tournament’s best goalkeeper.

The Black Stars second goal came in the 58 minute through a penalty awarded to Ghana after Patrick Razak who came on as substitute was tripped down in the box and Vincent Atinga made no mistake from the spot sending Ezenwa the wrong way.

In the 77th minute Ghana was awarded another penalty as Patrick Razak was tripped down by Eze and Stephen Sarfo made it 3-0 for Ghana and his second in the game.

However, Ghana was not done as they kept their pressure on Nigeria despite playing a man down and Ezenwa’s poor handling of the ball inside his box gifted Winful Cobbinah with a goal after he was set up by Patrick Razak in the 93rd minute.

Nigeria pulled a consolation goal in added time as Rabiu Ali perfect inched free kick beat Ghana’s Joseph Addo at his near post.

Coach of the home-based Eagles, Salisu Yusuf admitted that he lost to a determined Ghana side because they created more chances. “We lost to a better side and we didn’t create chances but it has been a worthwhile event for us as we hope to improve ahead of CHAN 2018.

In the third place game, a goal in each half from Idrissa Halidou and Victorien Adebayor handed Niger the bronze medal at the 2017 WAFU Cup of Nations after beating Benin 2-1 in a third/fourth place play-off match at Cape Coast Sports Stadium.