[ 2013-10-15 ]

How BBC reported Ghana's 6-1 demolition of Egypt
Ghana took a huge step towards reaching their
third straight World Cup finals by thrashing Egypt
6-1 in the first leg of their 2014 play-off.

Asamoah Gyan thumped in the opener and it was 2-0
after Michael Essien's run led to an own-goal from
Wael Gomaa.


Egypt's Mohamed Aboutrika scored a penalty but
Majeed Waris headed in to make it 3-1 and Gyan
headed another.

A Sulley Muntari penalty and a late strike by
Christian Atsu put Ghana in total control of the
tie.

The match had been billed as the tightest of the
five African play-off ties that will decide who
will make it to next year's tournament in Brazil.

But it is now almost guaranteed that the Black
Stars will be on the plane to South America after
a huge win in Kumasi.

The tension had been ramped up during the build-up
to the tie because Ghana had written to Fifa
asking for the 16 November second leg to be
switched from the Egyptian capital Cairo because
of safety fears.

With the venue for that match still uncertain,
Ghana wanted to earn a healthy advantage from the
first game at home and they set about achieving it
by sprinting out of the blocks at the Babayara
stadium.

Gyan had a clear chance to put the hosts ahead
inside 20 seconds but he hit his shot straight at
Egypt goalkeeper Sherif Ekramy from 12 yards out.

The Black Stars skipper had only a few minutes to
dwell on his miss before he was put when Waris
touched on Essien's pass and the former Sunderland
striker turned with pace and struck a smart low
shot into the far left bottom corner.

Egypt, who came into the game with a 100% record
in qualifying - the only African side to do so -
appeared stunned and despite having nine players
from the same club, Al Ahly, were totally
disorganised.

Kwadwo Asamoah let fly with a fierce drive that
was beaten out by Ekramy and shortly after the
Egyptian keeper made another fine save, diving low
to his left to push out Waris's header, as Ghana
threatened to completely dominate their
opponents.

A second goal looked inevitable and it came after
Essien left two defenders on the floor during a
mazy run and, just as the Chelsea man appeared to
have tried too much, the ball ricocheted off Gomaa
into the Egyptian skipper's own net.

At that point, Ghana were firmly in control and
making light of the fact they were without injured
midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng and first-choice
centre-backs John Boye and John Mensah,

Gradually, though, Egypt acclimatised to the
woefully bumpy pitch and slippery surface that had
been affected by heavy rainfall before kick-off.

And when Mohamed Aboutrika's whipped free-kick to
the back post found Mohamed Naguib, the central
defender should have done better than to head
over.

It was the first encouraging sign for Egypt and
soon Mohamed Salah gave warning of his pace by
forcing a foul from Rashid Sumaila. When the pair
tangled again soon after, the referee awarded a
penalty against the inexperienced Ghana
centre-back for what looked a clear push.

Aboutrika, capped 101 times by his country, drew
on his experience to kept his cool and stroke the
ball home, sending the keeper Fatawu Dauda the
wrong way to make it 2-1.

However, any sense of a recovery from Egypt was
soon dispelled when Waris restored Ghana's
two-goal advantage on 44 minutes, heading in
Muntari's cross.

Eight minutes after the interval, things got even
worse for Egypt when they failed to clear a corner
and Muntari's bicycle kick attempt bounced up
nicely for Gyan to nod in Ghana's fourth goal.

The visitors, who have somehow managed to achieve
spectacular results despite severe disruptions to
their domestic league in the last 18 months,
looked a well beaten side for the first time in
this qualification campaign.

And their misery was increased when the speedy
Waris burst through on goal and was upended in the
penalty area by keeper Ahmed Elshenawi, who had
come on for the injured Ekramy. Muntari made no
mistake from the resultant spot-kick.

Egypt's humiliation was complete when substitute
Atsu drove in a fizzing shot from the edge of the
box to increase the fervour of the home fans'
celebrations.

Source - BBC

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