Serbian trainer, Milovan Rajevac, began his second stint as Black Stars Head Coach with an efficient 3-1 win over Zimbabwe at the Cape Coast Stadium.
The Black Stars needed victory in the race to qualify for Qatar 2022, after group rivals South Africa had beaten Ethiopia in the other group game.
The Black Stars started on the front foot, with some quick intricate passing which caused a few problems for Zimbabwe early on.
Ghana were immediately rewarded for their strong start when Ajax Amsterdam star, Kudus Mohammed finished neatly with his right foot after some good build up play involving himself, Jordan Ayew and Kamaldeen Sulemana.
Milovan Rajevac’s side continued to to press on for the second and were very unlucky not to double their lead when Kudus’s close range shot was saved brilliantly by Zimbabwean goalkeeper Talbert Shumba.
There was a sense of buoyancy in the stadium, with Ghana exhibiting complete control of the game, restricting Zimbabwe to feed on hopeful long balls.
Ghana went close again to scoring a second, but Kudus Mohammed who was proving to be a handful for the Zimbabwe defense sent his close range shot over the bar on the 37th minute.
Ghana thought they had doubled their lead, 4 minutes to the break when Kamaldeen Sulemana found the net from close range, but that was ruled out for an offside, and Ghana, despite their overwhelming dominance had to settle for just a 1-0 lead at half-time.
Zimbabwe started the second half with more purpose, and were back on level terms when Knowledge Musona scored from the spot after being brought down by Alexander Djiku in the box.
Zimbabwe nearly grabbed the lead almost immediately, when Kudukwashe Mahachi’s curling effort struck the left hand post.
Ghana struggled to deal with the counter attacking threat from Zimbabwe, and needed a stunning point blank save from debutant Jojo Wollacott to stop Zimbabwe from taking the lead.
But the superior quality of the Black Stars came to play, when Thomas Partey dispossessed his man before beating two defenders to shot low and hard into the bottom corner to give Ghana the lead.
That goal seemed to change the tide, as the Black Stars begun to grow in confidence.
Captain Andre Ayew, made sure the points were sealed when he headed in from close range to make it 3-1 to Ghana.
The win sends Milovan Rajevac’s side second behind South Africa in Group G ahead.
