An early goal from Thomas Partey was enough to secure Ghana’s place at the 2022 Qatar World Cup as they beat Nigeria on away goals after a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their qualifying play-off.
Watford’s William Troost-Ekong’s penalty was not enough to stop the Black Stars.
Coach Otto Addo made no changes to side that place the first and trusted Afena Gyan to lead the line for the Stars.
The game started scrappily, with Nigeria in slight ascendancy with Emmanuel Dennis and Napoli’s hitman Victor Osimhen going close.
Arsenal midfielder Partey low drive outside the box put Ghana in front after a brilliant team play from Jordan and Mensah with Nigerian goalkeeper Francis Uzoho diving over it at the same time as spilling it, and Ghana were ahead in 10 minutes.
Nigeria, though, responded well, and when, on 22 minutes, Ademola Lookman weaved into the box and past Daniel Amartey, Denis Odoi bumped him over; Troost-Ekong punched home the penalty.
Ghana made three changes at half-time and also changed from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2. This gave them greater midfield control, able to protect their defence and move the ball forward with something approximating to aggression.
As such, Nigeria could neither harness momentum nor sustain attacks.
Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen could not get adequate supplies to pose danger as he did in the first half as a result of Ghana moving back to 5 defenders.
The results means that Ghana is the first African country to secure the first of five tickets from the confederation.
