Ghana revived their FIFA U20 World Cup campaign with a nervy 3-2 win over tournament favourites Argentina on Tuesday in Wellington.Â
An all-round performance from the Black Satellites was nearly tainted by late second half comeback from the young Albiceleste.
The Argentines were too quick to come out of their blocks and it was Giovanni Simeone who opened the scoring but his connection across the face of goal nearly scored by goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi parried away.
But it did not take long for the Africans to change gears and were on the ascendency.
The first clear chance opened on the half hour mark when Samuel Tetteh teed up lone striker Benjamin Tetteh.
The lanky forward chested the ball and delivered a half-volley but it was off target.
However, he made amends when he struck powerfully from inside the box after Aboagye’s incisive pass put the Argentines out of the equation.
Defender Lucas Suarez should have equalized but his connection was above the frame.
Just after the break, striker Giovanni Simeone nearly levelled the scoring but his effort was a shoe-size late.
Few minutes, goalkeeper Ati-Zigi pulled a brilliant save to deny Rodrigo Moreira who came in with a blistering header at the far post on a curled free-kick.
In the search for the equalizer, Argentina got exposed at the back and in a quick counter attack initiated by winger Samuel Tetteh, Ghana doubled their lead through captain Aboagye.
Tetteh sliced the ball for the Granada player who had peeled to the right to strike a low grounder past goalkeeper Augusto Batalla on 59 minutes.
Ten minutes later, Samuel was whacked down inside the box for a penalty and it was midfielder Yaw Yeboah who put it away neatly to make 3-0.
But Argentina will not go down easily as rallied to reduce the deficit with two late goals.
A rare error by Ati gifted Simeone a simple goal and it looked too little to late, but continued pressure saw Emiliano Buendai halve the deficit and mean Ghanaian nails were chewed in the stands.