Ghana’s U-23 team, the Black Meteors, have qualified for the CAF U-23 Afcon in Egypt after beating Algeria 1-0 in the return leg of their last round qualifying match played in Setif, Algeria.
A 69th minute strike from captain Yaw Yeboah gave Ibrahim Tanko’s men an unlikely win away from home, progressing 2-1 on aggregatea the north Africans.
Having drawn 1-1 in the first leg in Accra, few gave the team any chance of qualifying for the 8-team tournament.
The team’s preparations were further hampered by injuries to Zakaria Fuseini and Osman Bukari and the suspension of influential midfielder Majeed Ashimeru.
But Ghana put on a gallant display and were the better side in the first half despite it ending 0-0.
Back from recess, the Algerians piled on the pressure but Ghana repelled their attack consistently until Yeboah found the breakthrough, weaving his way past 3 Algerian players before slotting it home.
The Meteors will join 7 other teams in Egypt for the 8-team competition where the top 3 will book tickets to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Ghana has not qualified for the the Olympic football event since 2004.
Egypt (Hosts), Zambia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Mali are the other qualified teams.
Ghana XI
Kwame Baah (GK)
Gideon Mensah
Kingsley Fobi
Habib Mohammed
Nicholas Opoku
Michael Agberkornu
Isaac Twum
Yaw Yeboah
Bernard Tekpertey
Joseph Paintil
Dauda Mohammed (Joel Fameyeh)