Title co-favourites, Ghana were made to sweat for victory against a plucky and solid Botswana team, in the opening Group D encounter in Franceville.The encounter described by football analysts as experience versus enthusiasm turned out to be in favour of the later as Ghana who are gunning for their fifth nations cup title outsmarted Botswana who are in their maiden participation in the final round of the Africa Cup of Nations. However, Botswana was far from ridiculous as they gave the Ghanaians a run for their money. The game was fairly balanced though it slightly swayed in favour of Ghana in terms of density of play. Just like Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana did just the essential, narrowly edging Botswana 1-0.
The goal was scored by John Mensah who connected in a corner kick from Boye at the 23rd minute of play. The Zebras of Botswana in some way paid the price for having respected the Black Stars of Ghana too much in the first half as they put up a spirited fight in the second half but failed to concretise the chances they created. The goal scorer and team captain, Mensah was sent off with a red card for bringing down goal bound Ramathakwane on the edge of the box. Yet Botswana was unable to make use of the numerical advantage to get a goal. In the 51st minute, defender John Boye’s bicycle kick clearance off the line kept Ghana’s lead when Botswana thought they had equalized. The action swung from one end to the other as both sides produced some exciting football.
Mensah is so far the first player in the tournament to receive a red card. Also, there has been no draw and no team has won with more two goals margin.
