Semenyo, Salisu score as Black Stars defeat Switzerland

Ghana’s Black Stars earned a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Switzerland in a pre-World Cup friendly on Thursday morning.

Second-half goals from Mohammed Salisu and Antoine Semenyo gave the Black Stars a well-deserved victory in their final match before the World Cup kicks off on November 20.

The Black Stars largely dominated the game at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu-Dhabi but had to wait until the 70th minute to make that dominance count.

The Swiss failed to deal with a corner by substitute Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, allowing defender, Mohammed Salisu to loop a header past Yann Sommer.

Otto Addo’s side doubled their lead just four minutes later after Kamaldeen Sulemana’s run caused some carnage in the Swiss box.

The ball eventually broke to Antoine Semenyo, who found the net.

Prior to that, Lawrence Ati-Zigi was barely threatened in the Ghana goal by the Swiss team, who started the game with their strongest available side.

The Black Stars had the luxury of leaving Thomas Partey and Mohammed Kudus on the bench, with their World Cup group opener against Portugal just seven days away.

The performances of the entire team, particularly Elisha Owusu, Salis Samed and Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, would have excited Ghanaians, who were unsure about how the new inclusions would fare in the team.

Having dispatched one of Europe’s most exciting teams, Otto Addo and his team now turn their attention to the clash with the Portuguese on November 24 in very high spirits.