Ghana has made history by becoming the first African nation to win the U-20 Youth Soccer Championships when it defeated Brazil 4-3 in a dramatic penalty shoot-out on Friday night in a thrilling match the Black Satellites played with ten men.

Of course, the credit goes to the Ghanaian boys whose determination and skills have broken the jinx of African teams losing in the finals of this glamorous youth tournament.

It could be recalled that Ghana and Nigeria have reached the finals two times each in the previous tournaments only to lose to either European or South American teams, most especially Brazil, four-time winners. Nigeria lost to Portugal in 1989; Ghana to Brazil in 1993; Ghana to Argentina in 2001; and Nigeria to Brazil in 2005.

Although the Samba boys seemed to be the better side in terms of having "more of the ball and creating clearest chances", the Black Satellites showed unparalleled resilience, especially when they were down with ten men as Defender Daniel Addo was shown the controversial red card in the 37 minutes.  

Up until the final whistle which includes the extra-time, the South American boys looked as if they were going to carry the day and thus lift the trophy for the fifth time. However, the African boys stood their ground even though it was obvious they were tired.

"We fought like dogs to win it," said Andre Ayew, Ghana captain when talking to FIFA.com. "But we're world champions and all the tiredness goes away when you climb those steps to collect the goal medal.

Spot kicks moment is always emotional and sometimes dramatic. It was both in this match as the two best teams met in the final. With Brazil leading 2-1 on penalties, Macion only needed to score to win the match for his team. But something extraordinary happened. The striker smashed the ball over the bar, giving Ghana the chance to recuperate.

And when the golden boy with eight goals, Dominic Adiyiah, scored and Alex Teixeira missed, Emmanuel Agyemang- Badu must find the net in order to win the trophy for the first time and for Africa in general. The boy took his breath and so do many Africans all over the world. Badu did not disappoint them.

For the third place, Hungary defeated Costa Rica by 2-0 in another penalty shoot-out after 1-1 draw at the end of the 90 minutes.

Copyright 2009 mysmallvoice@yahoo.com 

Robot  # 1 | 17.10.2009 07:50

...Read the full article.

padjekuko  # 2 | 17.10.2009 07:56

I congratulate the boys for proving that will power can prevail over technical efficiency Philemon

valteena  # 3 | 17.10.2009 11:36

Kudos to Ghana. Even Naija at the peak of our football glory never defeated Brazil in any category of football(please feel free to correct me on this anyone lol). The Gods are with Ghana methink as everything they touch turns to gold literarily. They have a working democracy, a growing and stable economy, international goodwill among many other thing working in their favour. And now this sports glory. Who knows if the Gods continue to smile on them like this they might win the coming world cup. Ghana has qualified already and here is Nigeria still struggling to qualify with an almost nil chance of making it. So sad indeed:sad::cry:. Just goes to show that once an nation refocuses and take care of the fundamentals, it does have a ripple effect on all aspects of life of the country. Nigeria needs to go back to basics for every thing else fall into place for us.

omaks  # 4 | 17.10.2009 16:18

=valteena;396618>Kudos to Ghana. Even Naija at the peak of our football glory never defeated Brazil in any category of football(please feel free to correct me on this anyone lol). Chei Valtee, :source where you for get that info (see the highlighted part)? Nigeria has already beaten Brazil, in the Olympics for that matter. It was in 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where Nigeria thrashed Brazil 4 goals to 3 in Penalty shoot - out (i think) at the semi final stage. The date was 31 July 1996. (You need to enrol for Football Studies 101, my dear.;):lol:). Btw, Congrats to the Ghanaian U - 20 for winning the World cup, especially on African soil. Hope an African country can do same in South Africa in 2010.

igodanvictor  # 5 | 17.10.2009 18:24

congrtas boys we are proud of u all............

Dapxin  # 6 | 17.10.2009 19:44

We were suppposed also to play / beat Brazil in France 98, even before we had played Denmark..... in our usual fire-for-fire style.... History: Denmark demolished us 4-0. Ghana Rules!

keem  # 7 | 18.10.2009 03:31

=omaks;396695>Chei Valtee, :source where you for get that info (see the highlighted part)? Nigeria has already beaten Brazil, in the Olympics for that matter. It was in 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where Nigeria thrashed Brazil 4 goals to 3 in Penalty shoot - out (i think) at the semi final stage. The date was 31 July 1996. (You need to enrol for Football Studies 101, my dear.;):lol:). Btw, Congrats to the Ghanaian U - 20 for winning the World cup, especially on African soil. Hope an African country can do same in South Africa in 2010. Nigeria did beat Brazil by 4-3 in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics soccer games in the Semi-Final. But it was not on penalty kicks rather a goal scored by Kanu Nwankwo during the extra time after a 3-3 draw in the 90 minutes full time. Regards, Hakeem Babalola