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Black Meteors book AFCON ticket.

Ghana’s Black Meteors secured qualification to their second straight U-23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) following a 1-0 victory over Algeria in a final round return leg qualifier at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi yesterday.

A 13th minute delicate header by playmaker Abdul Fatawu Issahaku was enough to tame the stubborn North Africans with a 2-1 aggregate victory after the Sporting CP gem had given the Meteors a lifeline in the 1-1 first leg in Annaba last Friday.

The wild celebration which greeted yesterday’s triumph ushered the Meteors into the final phase of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers slated for Morocco from June 2 to 26.

Despite being wasteful, the young talented Meteors side still gave Coach Ibrahim Tanko hope to be second time lucky at the eight-nation tournament in Morocco after missing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ticket narrowly to South Africa at Egypt 2019 through the lottery of penalty shootout.  

It was a game the Meteors dominated but poor finishing robbed them of a cricket scoreline, with skipper Daniel Afriyie Barnieh being the main culprit, including a 14th minute howler with the Algerian goalkeeper at his mercy.

Easily, Issahaku and FC Nordsjælland’s Ernest Nuamah were the brightest spots in the Meteors team as they created many anxious moments for the Algerians throughout the game.

The Ghanaians looked quite promising right from kick-off and made some incursions into the goal area of the Algerians but failed to connect until in the 13th minute when enterprising Nuamah made a decent run on the far right before whipping in a deep cross for Issahaku to head home the opener.

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