Ghana lost 1-0 to Russia in an international friendly played in Moscow on Tuesday. The match was played at the 28,800-seater Lokomotiv Stadium.
The Russians took the lead in the 20th minute when forward Feder Smolov shot first time through the legs of Ghana goalie Adam Larsen Kwarasey after he was put through via a slide-rule pass. Ghana slowly got into the game but failed to create clear-cut chances.
On the other hand, they had to defensively alert to prevent conceding a second to the Russians.
In the second half, the Stars improved and went for the leveller but their opponents defended in numbers to stop Ghana’s attack which led by Jordan Ayew.
The best opportunity for Ghana fell to Christian Atsu in the 88th minute.
He received a lovely cross from Baba Rahman but his volley was saved by Russian goalie Igor Akinfeev and the Newcastle winger fired the rebound wide.
The match ended after 90 minutes and 4 more of injury time. The loss is Ghana’s first this year at senior team level under Avram Grant.
Ghana starting lineup: Kwarasey; Baba Rahman, Boye, Mensah, Afful; Wakaso, Acquah; Acheampong, Partey, Atsu; Jordan Ayew Russia starting lineup: Akinfeev; Shishkin, Berezutski, Semenov, Petrov; Dzagoev, Gazinskiy; Samedov, Zobnin, Zhirkov; Smolov.
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By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana