African U17 Cup: Ghana Win African U-17 Championship

May 31, 1999 By Jules Souleymane Gueye

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) - Ghana won the 3rd U-17 Africa Cup Nations after beating Burkina Faso 3-1 Sunday in Conakry.

This is Ghana's second triumph in the competition, after winning the maiden edition in 1995 in Mali, and they were hot favourites in Sunday's final, refereed by Tunisia's Hichem Guirat, with Gamal El-Hawary (Egypt) and Seydou Traore (Mali) as linesmen.

The Black Starlets dominated Burkina in midfield and attacked constantly, with Bernard Dong Bortey tormenting the Burkinabe defence.

They opened the scoring in the 11th minute through Ishmael Addo. Burkina could have equalised immediately afterwards but Ghana's goalkeeper Maxwell Owusu saved a fierce shot from Tanguy Barro in the 12th minute.

Addo could have made it 2-0 in the 29th minute, but Ghana's second goal came in the 33rd minute, when Nathaniel Lamptey converted a cross from Bortey.

In the 42nd minute, Bortey put his name on the scoresheet when Hermann Yameogo failed to clear the ball and the Ghanaians were 3-0 up at half-time.

After the break, the Burkinabe took advantage of some lapses and loose marking by their opponents and Tanguy Barro scored in the 62nd minute.

At the end of the game, Ghanaian captain Maxwell Owusu received the African trophy from Guinean Prime Minister Lamine Sidime and the fair play trophy from the Moroccan sports minister.

The third place play-off was won by Mali, who beat Cameroon 1-0, thanks to a 19th minute goal by Mamadou Diawara.

Cameroon missed a penalty in the 51st minute. Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali will represent Africa at the U-17 world cup to be held in New Zealand in September.

Burkina coach Jacques Yameogo said his team will draw lessons from their first participation in the African championship in order to prepare for the world cup.

"We made mistakes which cost us three goals in the first half. In the second half, when we played as a team, we managed to score. Let's not forget that Ghana are the reigning world champions," he said after the match.

Ghana's coach, Cecil Jones, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the match, saying that his players are going to relax for two weeks, before resuming preparations for the world cup.

"We came here to win. The competition was very tough," he added.

The lined up was as follows:

Ghana: Maxwell Owusu, Lawreance Kainyali, Michael Essien, Stephen Teteh, Raza Pimpong (Ibrahim Attiku, 64th) Nathaniel Lamptey, Bismark Kobi Mensah, Abdul Razak Ibrahim (Emmanuel Nkrumah, 72th), Anthony Obodai, Ishmael Addo (Abass Inusah (82th) Bernard Bortey.

Burkina: Daoua Diakite, Lamine Traore, Herman Yameogo, Djibril Traore, Soumaila Tassembedo, Charles Pafadnam, Patrick Zoundi, Tanguy Barro (Abdoul Aziz Nikiema 72th) Issaka Ouedraogo (Sibirisanou 65th) Ousseni Zongo, Gaston Rouamba.