Ghana’s Black Satellites have qualified for the last 16 of 2015 Under-20 FIFA World Cup as Group B winners after a hard-fought 1-0 win over Panama at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium.
A solitary goal from Emmanuel Boateng in the 82nd minute is all it took the Ghanaians to beat the resilient Panamanians, who exit as a result of the defeat.
“Our opponents surprised me today. I was in shock simply because at the World Cup you see such different standards of performance, and today Panama played very well,” declared Ghana’s coach, Sellas Tetteh, after the game.
The group’s favourite, Argentina faces the prospect of elimination from the tournament following its scoreless draw against Austria, with the Europeans picking the second slot.
The South American giants face an anxious wait to see if they could qualify as best losers or head home. Coach, Humberto Grondona, has already labelled the World Cup campaign a disaster, insisting his team does not deserve to be out of the tournament. “We don’t deserve to be out of the World Cup at this stage. We expected a lot of ourselves and came to New Zealand with high hopes. We were definitely aiming to achieve more than we delivered in the end,” the Argentine gaffer declared.
By Olisemeka Obeche
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