Ghana Black Stars have suffered their first defeat under CK Akonnor in a friendly in Turkey against the Eagles of Mali.
The Stars started the game poorly and was punished severely on the third minutes through a beautiful finish from the Malian skipper, Hamari Traoré after just three minutes when he received an incisive pass from Oumar Dacoure to put the Eagles 1-0 up.
As the game progressed, the Ghanaians warmed themselves into the game but failed to capitalise on the few opportunities that came their way notable Jordan Ayew failing to take advantage of a defensive blunder on the 10th minutes mark.
The first ended 1-0 to the Malians and the Stars returned to the dressing room with their soldiers down.
After the break, the Malians picked up from where they left off in the first half by scoring their second goal of the match three minutes into the second and this time Traoré producing a telling cross for youngster El Bilal Toure to head home the game’s second goal from close range.
At 2-0, the Stars still couldn’t shine and were second best throughout the proceedings as they looked sluggish and disjointed.
Malian capitalized on the Stars frailties and managed to get through the Ghana defense when RB Leipzig modifier, Amadou Haidara beats the offside trap in the 75th minutes to put Mali 3-0 up with 15 minutes left to play.
Ghana could not find their way back into the game and succumbed to a disgraceful 3-0 loss to their West African Brothers.
Ghana takes on Qatar on Monday in another friendly in Turkey and would be looking forward to right the wrongs against Mali to restore the lost believe in the masses.
D. N. A. Mensah, Daily Mail GH
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