Ghana’s Black Satellites drew 2-2 with Kenya in their second preparatory match ahead of the start of the 2025 Total Energies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Two goals from Aziz Musibau (19th and 37th minutes) were replied by their Kenyan counterparts in the 22nd and 33rd minutes respectively.
Displaying superb ball possession and inter-positional play, the Satellites settled quickly into the game and proved too hot to handle for the Kenyans in the early exchanges. The team missed its first chance when Aziz Musibau fired a shot off target from a good position on the edge of the penalty box.
Ghana’s first goal was scored from a goalmouth melee, which ensued after a corner kick. Kenya equalized through Lawrence Ouma in the 22nd minute after a swift exchange of passes on the edge of the penalty box. Five minutes after Kenya’s equalizer, the Satellites got their second goal via a tap-in by Musibau after Hakeem had smartly picked the ball off a Kenyan defender on the edge of the penalty box. In the 33rd minute, Kenya got their second equalizer when Hassan Beja took advantage of a defensive error by captain of the Satellites, Ofori McCarthy.
The fairly balanced first half thus ended 2-2.
Ghana started the second half by making three changes with Goalkeeper Gidios Aseako, Emmanuel Mensah and George Tei coming in for Patrick Arthur, Aziz Musibau and Aziz Issah
Kenya missed the first chance of the second half, with Aldrine Kibet firing over the bar from 12 yards out. Ghana’s Hakeem also missed a chance a minute later.
Kenya rang the changes with four substitutions in the 55th minute. The Kenyans showed good endeavour in the opening period of the second half, but the Satellites withstood the pressure from them. Ghana effected two more changes with Hayford Boahen and Amer Michael replacing Andrews Adjabeng and Joseph Opoku respectively. These changes benefited the Satellites as they asserted themselves more strongly and missed a number of chances.
Kenya almost scored the match winner in the 90th minute when they hit the crossbar from a corner-kick. The match ended 2-2 after 6 minutes of added time.
After the game, Head Coach of the Satellites Desmond Ofei shared a few thoughts:
“I think this was a good dress rehearsal for the boys, and I was satisfied with their general output. We (technical team) identified a couple of areas that require a little more finetuning and we shall continue to work on them as we get set to kick off our campaign next week.”
Ghana begins its participation in the tournament with a Group C match against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Suez on Friday, 2nd May 2025.
