Ghana started their Africa Cup of Nations campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Cape Verde

Ghana started their Africa Cup of Nations with a shock 2-1 defeat to Cape Verde on Sunday night.

Africa Cup of Nations

Result: Ghana 1-2 Cape Verde

Date: 14 January 2024

Venue: Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny

The Black Stars had Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Richard Ofori starting in goal, with Premier League strikers Antoine Semenyo of Bournemouth and Jordan Ayew of Crystal Palace in the line-up.

The game was tight in the opening exchanges and Jamiro Monteiro opened the scoring for Cape Verde on 17 minutes with a strike after a rebound in the box.

Ghana were fired up and Ransford Konigsdorffer almost levelled matters ten minutes before the break after a deflection off his body hit the post with the net gaping.

Majeed Ashimeru eventually found the back of the net for Chris Hughton’s charges moments later with a bullet strike from the edge of the box but his goal was disallowed for obstruction in an offside position by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

The Black Stars kept on knocking coming from the break and Alexander Djiku finally levelled matters ten minutes into the second stanza with a header from a corner by Jordan Ayew.

Hughton went for an all-out attack after that as he threw in Athletic Bilbao forward Inaki Williams in place of Semenyo and Konigsdorffer was replaced by Andre Ayew for fresh legs.

However, the game was on the edge as Bebe almost restored the lead for the Blues Sharks with 17 minutes remaining but had a shot cleared off the line.

Cape Verde were more threatening going forward in the closing stages as seven minutes before time Jovane came close to giving them the lead after he burst through on goal but his side-footed shot was brilliantly saved by Ofori in a one-on-one. P

The Blue Sharks kept the Ghana defence under pressure and Garry Rodrigues finally found the winner in stoppage time with a tap-in into an empty net after a mistake at the back, where Ofori could not collect a low ball that was kicked away from him in the box.

The Blue Sharks went to the top of Group B with three points while the Black Stars occupied bottom spot after Egypt were held to a 2-2 draw by Mozambique.