The Black Galaxies of Ghana shone as they beat rivals Nigeria by 2-0 at the Cape Coast Stadium in the first leg of their 2023 Championship of African Nations qualifiers fixture.
Second half goals mercurial forward Daniel Afriyie Barnieh and Suraj Seidu catapulted the Galaxies to the all important victory.
The CHAN Eagles came so close to scoring on the 21st minute, after Baba Tunde’s long corner kick delivery fell on the head of Adamu Abubakar at far post but the direction was poor resulting in a goal kick for Ghana.
Struggling to play to the tune, Evans Osei Wusu was subbed off for David Abagna, who libed up to expectations as his first touch on the ball nearly putting Ghana upfront.
In the second half, the Black Galaxies started on an explosive note and came in strongly on their opponents which resulted into a penalty for the host after the ball went off the hand of a Nigerian defender in the box.
Daniel Afriyie Barnieh as always, stepped up and converted beautifully to put Ghana in front on the 49th minute.
Ghana almost doubled their lead eight minutes later, after David Abagna combined nicely with Attuquaye but the latter’s curler went wide.
Nigeria broke on a counter again from the right with Eugene Martin as the initiator but his cross to the far post was gathered by goalkeeper Danlad Ibrahim.
Ghana finally doubled their lead deep into the game as Seidu Suraj finished off what was a decent build up.
The return leg is scheduled for September 3, 2022 at Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja and Ghana will build on their 2-0 advantage as they seek to qualify for the tournament after eight years away.