Team Ghana continued their quest to claim Amputee football gold at the ongoing Accra 2023 Paralympic Games.
The Ghana National Amputee football team, also known as the Black Challenge hammered their Liberia counterparts 5-0 in the last group stage game, booking a ticket to the knockout stages.
After securing a 7-0 victory against Uganda and succumbing to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Morocco in their first two games, the hosts needed to avoid losing in the third game to qualify for the next round.
Mohammad Mubarak continued his fine form for team Ghana in the tournament, adding to his tally just four minutes into the game to give Ghana a deserving lead before teammates Hamza Mohammed and Collins Gyamfi added the second and third goals, respectively, to provide Ghana with a commanding 3-0 lead heading into the break.
Ghana continued to exhibit their attacking prowess in the second half with two more goals from Ussif Yahaya and a second from Mohammed Mubarak to take the scoreline to 5-0, a result that sealed their qualification for the knockout stages alongside side group leaders Morocco, who also finished the group stages with a perfect record after three games.
Speaking after the convincing win, the head coach for the Ghana Amputee Football team, Stephen Richard Obeng, said, “The win means a lot to me and every Ghanaian because the Black Stars also qualified [to AFCON 2024] just like we did. We had to put yesterday’s loss behind us and bounce back in this one.”
“We expect a massive game in the next round, and we’ll go all out. This is Ghana, and everyone will be watching us. Hopefully, by Sunday, we will be champions”, the coach added.
The Black Challenge will now take on another North African country Egpyt in the semi-finals on Saturday at 7 pm at the McDan La Town Park.
September 9:
7th Place: Uganda vs Kenya – 13:00h
5th Place: Liberia vs Rwanda –15:00h
Semifinal 1: Morocco vs Angola – 17:00h
Semifinal 2: Ghana vs Egypt– 19:00h
Venue: McDan La Town
