Ghana vs Morocco - LiveBlog

Africa Cup of Nations Group A gets decided today, with this game and Guinea vs Namibia kicking off simultaneously. Laurie will be keeping us updated on the Guinea vs Namibia - OpenThread, and I’ll be LiveBlogging Ghana vs Morocco below.

Ghana 2-0 Morocco

Essien 26′
Muntari 42′

Group A
Date: Monday, January 28
Start time: 1700 GMT
Location: Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra

Thanks to everyone for keeping me company. Wish there’d been a bit more drama but was good to see the hosts looking so impressive. Congrats to Ghana, and commiserations to Morocco, who had looked so impressive in the opening game.

WCB Man of the Match*: Michael Essien. Scored the first, made the second. Was unstoppable in midfield.

*it’s new, and there’s no trophy or champagne

Ghana are through. They top Group A with nine points and finally have a performance to be proud of. They will likely avoid Cote d’Ivoire in the quarters now. If Guinea vs Morocco stays 1-1 then Guinea will take second, but face a quarter final without the still suspended Pascal Feindouno.

FULL-TIME It’s all over. Ghana 2-0 Morocco.

90+ Hadji has a determined look in his eye and shoots on target. It bounces of Kingson but there’s no one there for Morocco.

90+ Keeper Lymaghri beats B. Gyan to a header on the edge of the box.

-Three minutes of stoppage time. Of which one minute has already gone.

89′ Baffour Gyan is on for his brother (has been for a few minutes.) Maybe he can get a goal for Asamoah. Despite not scoring, Asamoah has played well.

83′ Ayew is on for Agogo. Tries a bit of skill and gets hacked down. Now Muntari is off on a stretcher after his head clashes with Yousef Safri’s bee-hind. Gyan is down injured too.

82′ Agogo gets a shot at Lamyaghri, who doesn’t quite gather it. Gyan is there but can’t quite get it before it’s cleared. It comes back in and Gyan HITS THE BAR with a header! Please let this man score today.

- Word on the grapevine is that Namibia have equalized. 1-1. But Morocco would still need to level this game to take advantage of a possible Namibian win.

78′ Gyan burns past Chretien but his low cross is rubbish.

-I’d like to see Agogo come off (looks tired) for Asamoah Gyan’s brother Baffour Gyan. Maybe some brotherly love will produce a goal like it did for Cote d’Ivoire against Benin.

73′ Junior Agogo gets down the right flanks and crosses for Gyan to finally put one away. Gyan meets it with a perfect header but Lamyaghro chooses that moment to pull out a world class reaction save. Gyan has absolutely no luck.

68′ Agogo does a nice little turn on the touchline and sets up Owusu-Abeyie, who hits a very slow shot at Lamyaghri. The Moroccan keeper read today’s newspaper while he waits for Abeyie’s effort to reach him.

65′ Essien down again after taking a kick to the chest. I’m not worried this time, as the man is clearly invincible.

-More bad news for Morocco. It’s Guinea 1-0 Namibia with a Soulemane Youla goal. The Atlas Lions didn’t need that.

63′ Essien shoots from distance. Doesn’t score but he’s still having a great game.

-Morocco are going to disappoint again after promising so much early on. I still say Morocco is the the Spain of Africa.

56′ Seems Zrka has come on for Aboucherouane, right after the latter had put in the best cross Morocco have had all game. I’m not sure about Henri Michel.

55′ Agogo can’t quite beat Ouaddaou for pace but wins a shoulder charge battle. His cross, so poor it’s actually a shot, is saved by Lamyaghri.

53′ Aboucherouane puts in a dangerous cross, but Kingson comes out low to claim it.

52′ Free kicks are all going against Morocco. They can’t catch a break.

49′ Ghana subs are warming up, but the eleven on the field are looking good.

46′ Gyan burst through but looked a bit scared to shoot. Tried to stop and square it for Agogo instead but got tackles. Still think Ghana are a quality striker away from being a really top-class team.

45′ Second half is go.

-Sekitoui is on for Kharja. How did Sekitoui not start for Morocco? He was magnificent in the game against Namibia.

-Morocco apparently had “quite the discussion” at half-time, according to the JumpTV commentator.

HALF-TIME That’s the first 45 done with and that may be Morocco’s hopes of getting out of Group A done with too. They need Guinea to lose to Namibia now, but that game is still at 0-0.

45+ Muntari through again but shoots way over.

-Keeper will kick himself when he sees that.

44′ GOAL!!! Third time lucky for Muntari. Essien charged through midfield and fed Muntari, who beats the keeper at the near post.

42′ Agogo feeds Muntari, who shoots over from a tight angle. Can’t argue with Muntari’s confidence though.

40′ Hadji got on the end of a long pass but Mensah did a great job of getting between Hadji and the goal. Hadji eventually unleashes a very tame shot.

32′ Muntari heads just over from a Pantsil cross. Still Guinea 0-0 Namibia, so right now it’s Ghana going through with nine points and Guinea with four, while Morocco are in third with just three points.

30′ Gyan cuts inside and drags a shot just wide. I’ve a terrible feeling that making that sentence a keyboard shortcut would be a big time saver today. Really hope he scores.

28 GOAL! BUT NOT! Pantsil seemed to accidentally head it past his own keeper but it was somehow ruled out for offside. Confusing.

-Muntari shaped to strike a free kick, but just dinked the ball over the wall for Essien to volley past the Moroccan keeper with the hard to type name.

26′ GOAL!!! Essien for Ghana. Knew he was bad news for Moroccans.

24′ Owusu-Abeyie thrills the crowd by running at pace past a few playes and doing a nice little twirl. Don’t want to be a killjoy, but for all that he didn’t actually get any further forward.

20′ Just spotted Essien back on the pitch and looking OK. Good news for Ghana fans and neutrals, bad news for Morocco fans and central midfielders.

18′ Chamakh with a dragback but Pantsil knocks him down.

17′ It’s still 0-0 between Guinea and Namibia. Check in with Laurie for the latest.

14′ Essien knocked down hard and stretchered off. Would be bad news for Ghana if he doesn’t come back. Muntari and his left find the top corner from the free kick but Morocco’s keeper with the hard to type name saves.

13′ I’m pulling for Asamoah Gyan to score here, just so his family stop getting abusive phone calls from Ghana fans. And the word fans should be in airquotes.

Morocco lineup:
Lamyaghri, Chretien, El Kaddouri, Erbate, Ouaddou, Hadji, Kabous, Kharja, Safri, Aboucherouane, Chamakh

6′ Essien rampages through midfield and fees Abeyie, who’s cross is overhit. Even when Essien looks like he’s lost the ball he just charges through the man who tackled him and carries on.

4′ Kharja has a go from 20 yards, forcing Kingson to palm it up in the air volleyball style before catching.

2′ Ghana looking the more lively so far. Essien has already had one half, or maybe only quarter, chance but brought the ball down in the area and then had to chase it out wide.

0′ We’re off.

-Ghana starting XI, courtesy of Inara:
Kingson
Paintsil - Mensah - Addo - Sarpei
Owusu-Abeyie - Essien - Annan - Muntari
Agogo - Gyan

Alright. I’m excited for this one. Morocco need to go all-out-balls-out for the win, which in a weird way might suit Ghana. Rather than having all the possession and the pressure of scoring, the Black Stars will likely have to a bit of defending and counter-attacking.

Preview

Scout Report - Ghana

Michael Essien was bossing the midfield against Namibia and looked all kinds of good. Laryea Kingston is suspended for this one (two yellow cards) but Claude Le Roy has the pretty darn exciting skills of Andre Dede Ayew to call on and the same defence that’s looked pretty reliable so far.

More worrying is the strikeforce, with Junior Agogo and Asamoah Gyan not really doing the business up front. Especially Gyan. The Udinese striker was booed when he came off against Namibia, and his family has apparently received nasty phone calls from angry fans. Which is very silly when you think about it, because being booed and having your family abused aren’t widely known as methods of inspiring goals-scoring form.

Ghana currently have six points but still aren’t guaranteed to progress. A win or a draw would see them through in first place, and they can even lose and take second place providing Guinea don’t beat Namibia. And even if Guinea beat Namibia, then Ghana are still good as long as they lose be just one goal or score at least two goals. Go here for a complete run down of the Group A situation.

Scout Report - Morocco

Hat-trick hero Soufiane Alloudi looks likely to miss out with the knee injury gifted to him by Namibia, while midfielder Youssed Safri has apparently given up hope. “I think we have no chance to win this cup, actually we would be lucky to qualify to the next round,” he whined. “We have a few good players among our squad but not good enough to contest against the like of Nigeria, the Ivory Coast or Egypt.”

But it’s not all bad for Morocco. The 3-2 defeat to Guinea was poor defensively, but the Atlas Lions have still scored seven goals in their first two games. Henri Michel has suggested Morocco will just go for it against Ghana, and if Marouane Chamakh finally catches fire (if he starts, he was bizarrely left on the bench against Guinea) then I’d back Morocco to outshoot Ghana.

A draw here will be enough for Morocco if Guinea lose. But if Guinea take at least a point from Namibia (which they really should) then Morocco will need to take all three points. Complete guide to the Group A situation here.

Team Blogs: Visit Inara at the Ghana blog and Mahmoud at the Morocco blog.

Streams: Try here and read our guide to streaming if you’re confused. Alternatively you can cough up some cash and subscribe to an official service.