Benin Beats Ghana

Result of an international friendly on Saturday:

Benin 1 (Gaspoz 17) Ghana 0

A re-enforcement squad of the Benin national soccer team, Le Ecureuil, registered a thin 1-0 victory over a locally assembled Black Stars in an ill-tempered return international friendly at the Kouhounou Stadium in Cotonou on Saturday.

It was also a bad day for African refereeing as Beninor referee Lamidi Cocou Brice showed open bias in favour of his country and exhibited a myopic interpretation of the rule on soccer.

His attitude was, apparently an attempt to help his country reverse a 3-0 thrashing by the Stars some
three weeks ago at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.

The referee from the blast of his whistle frustrated the Ghanaians, awarding an infringement against the
Stars for the slightest tackle and taking some bizarre decisions each time the Ghanaian attack moved.

AS if that was not enough, referee Brice ignored two clear penalties- one in each half in favour of the Ghanaians, unfortunately to the chagrin of his own home fans who were so thrilled with the way the stars played.

Tempers got to an uncontrollable situation in the 62nd minute when Ghana's Masseur, Charles Botwe, was given the matching orders from the inner perimeters for apparently having a confrontation with a security personle.

Mr Botwe had rushed to the pitch to attend to injured skipper Don Bortey when the security men rushed to drag the player from the pitch for the game to flow.

This, Mr Botwe vehemently resisted, resulting in a commotion, leading to him been sent off by the referee.

Ginger-haired Bernard Don Bortey, who easily was the man-of-the match, thrilled the fans with his
characteristic blistering runs down the flanges and his incisive curling shots each time he got the ball.

The game was just a minute old when he gave France-based goalkeer Agueh Mayime the first test with a long volley after a one-two with Rasta-haired Michael Asante.

But the Benin national side, which paraded six, foreign-based players - one from Italy, three from France and two from Swiss-responded almost immediately and unsettled the Ghanaians with a 17th minute goal by Swiss-based Gaspog Alair, who countered on a sloppy marking at the rear and delivered a low grounder which beat goalkeeper Abubakari Kankani.

The Stars fought back relentlessly as Don Bortey, Wisdom Abbey and Stephen Owusu became a target of rough play.

In one of their search for the equaliser, Bortey took a 20-mitre dash with the ball, turned his markers inside-out but his left footed shot was expertly saved by the goalie in the 27th minute.

But a minute later, the player's final shot after a series of rebound was pushed to corner.

Just as the Ghanaians took control of the game, stalwart defender Mustapha Essuman limped off the pitch after a mid-air tussle and his place was taken by Samuel Cudjoe.

The home team came into the picture during the clossing stages of the first half as Gaspog gave a lot of worry to Godred Yeboah at the left flank.

The Stars made some early incursions after recess but Abbey's scissor kick could not find the net.

Caretaker coach Emmanuel Afranie sent in Jonathan Quartey, Stephen Oduro, Addoquaye Pappoe, Francis Bossman, for Stephen Owusu, Michael Asante, Kobina Dodzie and Aziz Ansah in the last 20 minutes but the Stars could not find the needed equaliser.

After the match, both fans of Ghana and Benin, who were thrilled by Bortey's blistering run, carried him
shoulder-high while the coach and the rest of the players were mobbed.

"Even though we lost I am very satisfy with the performance of my boys and if they would continue to
play like this, the sky should be the limit", Coach Afranie said in a post match interview with GNA.

He said but for the poor refereeing, Ghana would have won the match easily.

Line up: Abubakari Kankani, Aziz Ansah/Addoquaye Pappoe, Godfred Yeboah, Mustapha Essuman/Samuel Cudjoe, Daniel Yeboah, Kobina Dodzie/Francis Bossman,Bortey,Michael Asante/Oduro,Wisdom Abbey, William Tiero, Stephen Owusu/Jonathan Quartey.