It was quite a disappointing scoreline for the Black Stars as they held to a 2:2 draw in the group F encounter of the AFCON 2019 by Benin.
Mickael Pote scored brace for the Squirrels of Benin to declined the Black Stars the three maximum points at the Ismailia Stadium today.
Ghana who were tipped favorite prior to the game, started on a good note with Mubarak Wakaso, Thomas Partey showing glimpses of quality in the midfield.
Mickael Pote who was a thorn in the flesh of the Black Stars defenders, had the opener as early as the second minutes of the fascinating encounter from Soukou’s pass.
Pote’s early goal didn’t deter the Black Stars from pushing forward as captain AndrĂ© Ayew restored parity for the Black in the 9th minutes with a strike in the penalty box.
Ghana continued to dominate possession, creating some decent chances but failed to utilize.
In about three minutes to end the first proceedings of the game, Jordan Ayew made it 2:1 for the Black Stars from a brilliant strike which Farnolle tried his possible best to prevent the ball from entering his net but all efforts went futile.
Black Stars coach, Kwesi Appiah had to make a force change by bringing in Samuel Owusu for injured Thomas Agyepong.
Benin returned from the break with much resilience and determination to get the equalizer but to no avail.
In the 54th minutes, Black Stars defender John Boye was shown the second yellow card for delaying which saw coach Kwesi Appiah substituting Samuel Owusu for Jonathan Mensah to strengthen the defense.
The exit of John Boye saw 10-men Ghana side sitting deep whiles Benin kept putting pressure for the equalizer.
Mickael Pote scored again in the 63rd minutes with a tab in of Dossou’s cross to send Benin at par.
Ghana started pushing forward but Christan Atsu’s bicycle kick in the 65th minutes missed the pole by inch.
Thomas Teye Partey’s brilliant freekick in the 69th minutes which saw almost every Ghanaian on their feet about to celebrate was saved by Farnolle.
In the 85th minutes, captain Andre Ayew was substituted for Afriyie Acquah but nothing changed as the game ended 2-2 at the Ismailia Stadium.