Ghana 0-1 Egypt
Egypt acheived their third successive African Cup of Nations win
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Sunday, 31, Jan 2010 06:10
By Sam Ross.
Egypt have won the African Cup of Nations thanks to a late strike from golden boot substitute Mohamed Nagy Gedo against a young and inexperienced Ghana side.
Gedo's late curled effort meant the Pharaohs were able to retain the trophy after achieving their third successive win in the competition.
Gedo won the golden boot after scoring five goals in six games - all coming from the substitutes bench.
The young Ghanaian side were eventually outclassed after the Black Stars had initially taken the game to the Egyptians in a game that didn't involved a great deal of quality.
The first half was somewhat of a lacklustre affair with chances reduced to just long-range efforts in an opening 45 minutes that was lacking in energy and any real quality.
Egypt weren't the free-flowing team as they have been in previous games and were finding it hard to break down Ghana who had every member of the team behind the ball when Egypt had possession.
Egyptian captain Ahmed Hassan had a long-range effort fly harmlessly over the bar inside the first five minutes while in the eighth minute Ghanaian lone forward Asamoah Gyan had a free kick from a promising position blocked by the wall.
From the resulting corner the 24-year-old, playing for French side Rennes, saw his ambitious shot drift wide after Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary failed to clear.
Midway through the first half Ghana had the better of the game's chances when in the 20th minute Andre Ayew sliced an effort wide and minutes later Udinese's midfielder Kwaedo Asamoah had a shot well watched by El-Hadary in the Egyptian goal.
But perhaps the best chance of the half came five minutes before the interval when Hossam Ghaly floated a free kick into the box towards unmarked forward Emad Meteeb. Meteeb was unable to latch onto the cross while Hassan also missed the ball at the back post. As the ball drifted past the captain's head Hassan appeared to handle it in attempt to keep the ball in play - which went unpunished by the referee.
Seven minutes into the second half Ghana were awarded a free kick after Egypt defender El-Muhammady hauled down Asamoah Gyan. Gyan then picked himself up and curled the ball towards the back-tracking El-Hadary who managed to tip the ball over the bar.
Egypt responded when Egyptian captain Hassan produced the best pass of the game with the outside of his right foot in the 68th minute to set up Meteeb one-on-one with Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingston but the striker was unable to get the ball from under his feet and Kingston came out to smother.
A minute later Hassan had a strong shout for a penalty when he appeared to be pushed in the back from a Hossam Ghaly cross but the referee judged otherwise and waved play on.
The 70th minute saw the introduction of the player that was set to change the game when Mohamed Nagy Gedo replaced Meteeb.
The 25-year-old wasn't involved initially and had to watch on when in the 80th minute Ghana midfielder Asamoah was unable to stretch far enough to latch on to a Andre Ayew through ball.
But five minutes later came the moment that resulted in Egypt retaining the title for the third successive time. Gedo played a great one-two with Zidan before curling the ball into the bottom left corner of the net past the helpless Kingston to seal the win.
It was the first chance Gedo had since coming on and it was a real quality finish that shows why he is this year's golden boot winner.
Ghana pressed on in the dying minutes of the game but were unable to produce a late equaliser with their best chance coming in the last minute of added time when substitute Dominic Adiyiah was unable to head home from two yards - with the man he replaced, the impressive Asamoah Gyan, watching on from the sidelines.