The Hope still lingers on

The Hope still lingers on.

Sports

After all four African countries had already taken to the field in Qatar and failed to break the deadlock in their respective games, it was up to Ghana to redeem Africa’s proud image on the global stage. 

To the naysayers, this was the match in which Portugal would overwhelm the Stars, but to their disappointment, that didn’t happen. Coach Otto Addo had a clear game plan that stifled the Portuguese attackers for the first half. They had chances, but those didn’t inflict any harm to our keeper in the field.

During the first half, you could catch glimpses of the Portuguese coach, Fernando Santos, feeling jittery at how his team was unable to impose itself on the game. The first half came to an end, scores were still 0-0, and the G.O.A.T. had only one shot on goal. We were all wondering at home: Can Ghana pull this off and avoid defeat against our much-fancied opponents?

The second half kicked off after a short break. Our players started to express themselves more in the game, with Kudus taking a few crisp runs in the midfield to create scoring opportunities. As the 65th minute approached, disaster struck. Mohammed Salisu went for a 50-50 ball in the penalty box against none other than Cristiano Ronaldo. Southampton was penalized for fouling the Portuguese striker. Portugal were awarded a penalty. In a split second, going for a 50-50 challenge, one would have imagined the referee would have gone to the V.A.R. to get a second opinion. Because, first off, he was far away from the incident.

Unfortunately, the referee had made his own decision. Ronaldo steps forward to take the spot kick, and he coolly places it in the top left corner to ink his name in the history books of football yet again. by becoming the first male footballer to score in five different Mundials. Many will applaud this laudable achievement, but they will be disappointed that it had to come through unfair means. 

The event that preceded this goal showed that the Black Stars came to Qatar not to make the numbers but to challenge for the illustrious trophy. Eight minutes later, after the game had seen its first goal, Ghana played some scintillating soccer, which ended up with Mohammed Kudus feeding Captain Andre Dede Ayew to pull Ghana level. Now we had a game on our hands. Finally, Africa had recorded her first goal of the tournament.

Fernando Santos made a few changes that eventually stretched the game, and the turnovers led to two goals for the Portuguese team. Many a time, Ghana would have given up after going down behind two goals. But the spirit the youngest team in Qatar displayed and their scoring their second goal of the game in the 89th minute show that all Hope isn’t lost.

With two games coming up against South Korea and Uruguay, Ghana can invoke the spirits of the 2006 World Cup to pull off two outstanding victories to qualify for the knockout stages. We may have lost the first match, but the Love will grow stronger for the Stars!

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