Libya 0(4)-0(3) Ghana – AET & Penalties
Libya are the 2014 Africa Nations Championships champions after beating Ghana 4-3 on a dramatic penalty shootout that saw both custodians standout.
The showdown short of clear cut chances in 120 minutes at Cape Town stadium ended in a barren draw after extra time calling for the winner to be decided on penalties.
There were few chances in the game, but the best did fall to the Mediterranean Knights.
A defensive slip early on from Black Stars backline saw goalkeeper Stephen Adams rushing off his line to clear the danger, while Ghana thought they should have had a penalty for handball soon afterwards.
Both Ahmed Kamal El Trbi and El Mutasem Abushnaf had good headed chances to give their side the lead, but the former saw his effort saved and the latter did not hit the target.
In the shootout, Libya raced into a lead and then suddenly surrendered their advantage. Javier Clement’s charges netted all their opening three penalties as compared to Ghana’s one but danger man Elgardi missed on the opportunity to become his side’s hero when his shot was saved by Adams.
Adams then saved another from Libya tournament top scorer Abdelsalam Omar to hand the advantage to Ghana and with Jack Owusu leveling the score line for Ghana, it now had to turn to sudden death with momentum now swinging Maxwell Konadu’s charges’ way.
But a miss from Joshua Tijani gifted the trophy to Libya, who ironically were the original hosts of this competition before the civil war in that country saw the tournament shifted to South Africa.
It is also a triumph for their Spanish coach Javier Clemente, who has only been in the job a matter of months, and already has made history with the side.
For Ghana it is a second defeat in the CHAN final after they also lost the inaugural 2009 decider against DR Congo, meaning their 32-year wait for CAF silverware continues.
The triumph is Libya’s first ever continental silverware. In a third place play off match, Nigeria beat Zimbabwe to claim the bronze medal.
South Africa’s striker Bernad Parker won the golden boot (4 goals) while Nigeria’s Christadus Ejike was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournment.
The next edition of the CHAN will be hosted by Rwanda in 2016.
