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Ghana’s Black Stars exited the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon at the end of the group stages games for the first time since 2006 in Egypt.
The four-time AFCON champions suffered a humiliating and disgraceful defeat to minnows Comoros in their final group C encounter which confirmed their elimination from the tournament.
All the Stars needed to reach the knockout stage was just a draw against ‘Non-Football Nation’, Comoros on last Tuesday night in Garoua.
Ghana would have progressed to to the knockout stage if they had managed a 2-2 draw against the Islanders.
With how other results panned out, the Black Stars would have edged Sierra Leone to book a place in the knockout stage and face Cameroon in Yaounde on Monday due to goals scored in the competition if the game had ended in a 2-2 stalemate.
Sierra Leone finished with 2 points, two goals scored and 3 goals conceded which meant they would have been on a negative of one.
Had the stars drew 2-2 with Comoros, they would have also been on two points, three goals scored and four goals conceded which would also give them a negative of a goal.
With Ghana’s three goals scored against Sierra Leone’s two goals scored with both teams having a negative of one goal, the Black Stars would have progressed to the knockout phase based on the number of goals scored three, against two scored by the Leone Stars.
As Algeria and Ethiopia finished with a point each in their respective groups as the third placed teams, the Stars would have limped into the round of 16 stage where they would have come up against the host nation, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.
Ghana bowed out in shame but after other results, the Stars elimination from the tournament becomes a disastrous, disappointed and a disgraceful thing as they could reach the knockout stage without necessarily having to win a game at the tournament in the group stage.
Comoros will now face Cameroon in Yaounde on Monday evening whiles the Stars players return to their respective teams to continue with their club football career.
This was the first time ever Ghana has failed to win a single game at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament and the only time in the country’s history to finish bottom in their group at the competition.
By: D. N. A. MENSAH, Daily Mail GH
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