The Black Satellites have been bundled out of the on-going football competition at the African Games in Morocco following a 4-2 defeat in the hands of the Junior Eagles of Mali at the Stade Municipal in El Manssouria on Saturday.
The defeat, the second for the side after losing to Senegal 1-0 on Wednesday, condemned coach Yaw Preko to an early exit.
Souleymane Drame opened the scoring for the Malians in the 11th minute before Abdoulaye Kanou added the second in the 41st with Ibrahima Sangare compleing a double in the 64th and 66th minutes. Awudu Tahiru grabbed the brace for Ghana in the 47th and 86 minutes.
The Ghanaians started on a shaky note as a long ball to their area unsettled goalkeeper Danlad Ibrahim who struggled to bring the situation under control.
Senegalese striker, Drame, capitalised on a defensive blunder in the 11th minute to score the opener.
Mali could have gone ahead 2-0 by the 29th minute but goalkeeper Ibrahim saved an Abdoulaye Kanou spot kick shot to keep the score at 1-0.
However, Kanou came back to haunt the 2011 champions with the second goal with four minutes to end the first half through a defensive error between the backline and the goalkeeper.
Two minutes into the second half, Tahiru, reduced the deficit for the Black Satellites with Ghana’s opening goal which urged them on to push for the equaliser.
Sangare restored Mali’s two-goal lead with a fine finish from a break in the 66th minute before putting the icing on the win two minutes later with another goal in a similar fashion.
The crestfallen and tired looking Black Satellites managed to score a consolation goal through Tahiru late in the game but did very little to alter the result.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
