The Black Stars of Ghana lost to Cape Verde in round 1 of Group B at the Houphouet-Boigny Stadium by 2 goals to 1.
The Blue Sharks of Cape Verde took the lead in the first half through Monteiro who seized the opportunity of finishing of a left footed strike after an earlier save by Black Stars shot stopper Richard Ofori.
The Blue Sharks went on to have the better share of ball possession and momentum making the game an uneasy one for the Black Stars throughout the first half. The scoreline at halftime ended 1-0 in favour of Cape Verde.
After recess, the Black Stars came into the second half stronger especially after the introduction of Inaki Williams, Dede Ayew and Ernest Nuamah who came on for Antoine Semenyo, Ransford Yeboah and Joseph Paintsil respectively.
On the 56th minute, Alexander Djiku came to Ghana’s rescue by connecting a header from Jordan Ayew’s corner to make the scoreline 1-1.
Both sides made several attempts to take the lead after Ghana’s equalizer but all attempts proved futile until the 90th minute in a dramatic fashion, Cape Verde’s Garry Rodrigues put his team back in front after his right footed shot from the centre of the box found the back of the net.
The timing of Cape Verde’s second goal was so crucial and ripe that the Black Stars could not comeback to pick a point nor the maximum 3.
Ghana lies at the bottom of Group B with no points and Cape Verde top the group with three points while Egypt and Mozambique lie second and third with 2 points.
