World Youth Cup: Ghana Through To Next Round

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AP) Derrick Boateng scored the only goal of the match in the 43rd minute Thursday as Ghana defeated Iran and advanced to the second round of the under-20 World Youth Championship.

Ghana, which defeated Paraguay 2-1 in its first game, now has six points and sits atop the Group F standings going into its final match Sunday against second-place France.

The first half was a scrappy affair with the Ghanians maintaining possession but unable to create any genuine scoring chances. Iran, still stung by its 5-0 first-match defeat at the hands of France, spent most of the time chasing the African champions and proved incapable of posing many threats up front.

Boateng got Ghana's goal two minutes before the break when he cleverly recouped the ball from two Iranian defenders at the edge of the area, swerved deftly to take it past another defender and, entering the box, let fly a volley that Iranian goalkeeper Abbas Ghasemi had no chance of stopping.

The second half unfolded in a similar vein with Ghana dominating but still not creating many chances. In the 58th minute, defender Michael Essien raced into the area on the left but had a sharp-angled shot blocked by Iran's Saeid Lotfi.

Iran, sensing its exit from the tournament, came alive in the final minutes. In the 72nd minute, Reza Hadadi came within centimeters (inches) of equalizing with a blast against the right post from just inside the area.

Iran finished with 10 men following the sending off of Amir Falahi in the 83rd minute for a foul.

Iran plays its final game Sunday against Paraguay, which has one point after managing a 2-2 draw against France earlier Thursday.

Lineups:
GHANA: Maxwell Banahene, Sulley Muntari, Michael Essien, Patrick Villars, Emmanuel Pappoe, Antonhy Boday, John Mensah, John Paintsil, Abdul Ibrahim, Razak Pimpong, Derek Boateng.

 Iran 0 Ghana 1 
 Scorer: Derek Boateng 11 
 Halftime: 0-1; Attendance: 3,950 

 Group F 1. Ghana    2 2 0 0 3 1 6 
 2. France   2 1 1 0 7 2 4 
 3. Paraguay 2 0 1 1 3 4 1 
 4. Iran     2 0 0 2 0 6 0 
 Ghana already qualified