AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS FINAL Egypt 1 Ghana 0:SUBSTITUTE Mohamed Gedo scored the only goal five minutes from time to help Egypt defend their African crown with victory over Ghana yesterday.
Egypt, who struggled to create openings through the game, looked unlikely to score as the game drifted towards extra-time – until Gedo struck his fifth goal of the competition.
It handed Hassan Shehata’s men a record seventh title and third in succession, but they were made to work hard for the success at the Estadio do Novembre 11 in Luanda, Angola.
There was little action to speak of at the start – an early corner from Kwadwo Asamoah catching out goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary, while Egypt’s first half-chance came via a wayward strike from captain Ahmed Hassan.
Andre Ayew then failed to punish Egypt when Wael Gomaa mistakenly headed into his path – the shot was dragged wide.
Although the Egyptians seemed to have more of the ball, their opponents seemed to be creating the better openings – Asamoah again illustrating this when his well-struck 20-yard strike forced El-Hadary into a low catch.
Just past the half-hour mark the isolated Asamoah Gyan, who scored three of his side’s four goals in the competition, showed good trickery down the left, but had no one to look for in the box.
Seconds from half-time, Hosny Abd Rabo’s searching free-kick from the right almost broke the deadlock, but Hassan and Emad Moteab both missed the headed chance.
After the restart, Agyeman Opoku was lucky to get away with just a yellow card after diving in two-footed on Ahmed Al-Muhammadi.
The sides did not seem overly keen to attack, though, with Gyan coming closest for his side after 51 minutes with a zipping 25-yard free-kick that flew inches over, followed by Ayew firing wide from the edge of the box.
Egypt began to threaten more, but still struggled to find real rhythm – Hossam Ghaly the latest to drag wide from distance – while a quickly taken free-kick from Anthony Annan almost saw Gyan catch out El-Hadary, only to drift wide.
When Moteab finally managed to steal behind the Ghana defence after the hour mark he was quickly closed down by Richard Kingson, before Shehata decided to throw on the tournament’s leading marksman, Gedo, with 20 minutes remaining.
The game began to open up and Gyan should have found the target when the ball fell to him on the edge of the box, but he made amends with a testing, 20-yard free-kick which forced the Egyptian goalkeeper to punch away.
Then came the decisive moment with Gedo, cutting into the box from the left, playing a neat one-two with Mohamed Zidan and calmly arrowing the ball beyond Kingston.
GHANA: Kingson, Addy, Inkoom, Sarpei, Vorsah, Annan, Andre Ayew, Agyemang (Addo 89), Asamoah, Agyemang-Badu, Gyan (Adiyah 87). Subs Not Used: Adjei, Osei, Mensah, Essien, Narry, Amoah, Rahim Ayew, Afful, Draman, McCarthy. Booked: Agyemang.
EGYPT: El Hadari, El Mohamady, Said, Gomaa, Moawad (Abdelshafy 57), Fathi (Salem 89), Abd Rabou, Hassan, Ghaly, Zidan, Moteab (Gedo 70). Subs Not Used: Abdoul-Saoud, Fathallah, El Sakka, Eid, Tawfik, Wahid, Shikabala, Raouf, Hamdy. Booked: Moawad, El Mohamady, Ghaly.
Referee: Koman Coulibaly(Mali).
