Angola maintained their almost-spotless record against Ghana as they drew 1-1 at Estadio 11 de Novembro on Friday evening in their Afcon qualifier.
Angola went into the match with a mission to keep up their perfect record in the Afcon qualifiers and were the better team in the first 15 minutes.
Fredy was at the forefront of most of the Black Sable Antelopes’ attacking efforts, but Black Stars goalkeeper Nurudeen Abdulai was always one step ahead to make crucial saves.
The Black Stars surprisingly opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Leicester City forward Jordan Ayew took a free kick from distance and placed it beautifully in the top corner of the net, beating Neblu.
Shortly afterwards, Angola kept piling on the pressure leading to Gideon Mensah challenging Zito Luvumbo in the box and the referee awarding a penalty.
The spot kick was taken by M’Bala Zola, who plies his trade for Ligue 1 side Lens at the moment, on loan from Serie A club Fiorentina.
The penalty was saved by Abdulai, causing even more frustration for the Angolans who had more chances on goal in the first half, but were unable to capitalise.
The second half of the match began with the home team being persistent in finding the equaliser and it eventually paid off.
Milson found himself free on the wing to deliver a dangerous cross that met Zini who had just come on as a substitute and he headed home to make matters level with 64 minutes played in Luanda.
The last 10 minutes of the match saw Mohammed Kudus finally have a go on behalf of the Black Stars but his efforts were not enough to cause any real issues for the Angolans’ defence.
Angola (0) 1 (Zini 64’)
Ghana (1) 1 (Ayew 18’)
Angola: Neblu, K. Gaspar, D. Carmo, N. Fortuna (T. Carneiro 58’), Z. Luvumbo (R. Nteka 73’), Fredy (Maestro 73’), Bastos, Milson (C. Banza 90’), M. Nzola (Zini 58’), A. Hossi, Show
Ghana: N. Adbulai, A. Seidu, K. Schindler (O. Bukari 81’), R. Simpson, G. Mensah, I. Sulemana, E. Owusu, I. Fatawu (E. Annan 46’), M. Kudus (E. Nuamah 85’), M. Baidoo (R. Konigsdorffer 60’), J. Ayew