Ghana snatch draw after Cameroon waste chances

By Brian Homewood

Ghana 1-1 Cameroon

Co-hosts Ghana salvaged a 1-1 draw with Cameroon in the African Nations Cup-opener on Saturday because of some stunningly bad finishing by the Indomitable Lions.

Cameroon took a 20th minute lead through West Ham United's Marc-Vivien Foe, dominated the first half and could have comfortably wrapped up the game with more accurate shooting.

Instead, the Black Stars, four times Nations Cup champions, hit back with a classy strike by Kwame Ayew in the 57th minute and came close to snatching three points in a group which also features Togo and Ivory Coast.

Foe headed in from a rebound after Laurent Mayer's shot had rebounded off the bar as Cameroon took early control.

Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingston saved a Rigobert Song header on the line with his legs, then Joseph-Desire Job contrived to fire the ball over the bar from four metres from a chance created by a Salomon Olembe overhead kick.

Kingston saved Ghana again just before halftime, blocking a shot from Job after the home side's rearguard was breached.

Ghana managed only one decent effort before halftime, when Christian Gyan fired wide from the edge of the penalty area.

Cameroon were guilty of another astonishing miss in the 49th minute when Patrick Mboma emulated Job's earlier blunder by firing over an empty goal from point-blank range.

Eight minutes later, Ayew equalised, finishing clinically after a neat one-two with substitute Peter Ofari-Quaye.

Cameroon goalkeeper Boukar Alioum made a tremendous save to deny Otto Addo, then blocked a close-range effort by Ofori-Quaye with his legs as Ghana came close to winning.