Today Be Today! Ghana To Shock Brazil

Just like the 1993 FIFA Under-20 Championship finals, Ghana�s Black Satellites would today meet the Selecao of Brazil in the tournament taking place in Egypt. It would no doubt be a nail biter, but �Today be Today, Ghana is expected to break the jinx. The final, dubbed by connoisseurs of the beautiful game as �Mother of all battles� would be Ghana�s third time of reaching the finals of the competition and the second time they are meeting Brazil in the finals. In 1993, Ghana lost the final 1-2 to Brazil in Sydney and their most recent in Argentina 2001 where they lost the final 0-3 to Argentina. Incredibly, in 31 Fifa U-20 World Cup matches, Ghana has not lost a game below the semi final level in regulation time. In the ongoing tournament, the Black Satellites have been the only Africa team lifting the flag of the continent after the fall of the host Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon. Though no African team has been able to win this trophy, South American teams have been represented in the finals 12 times, with Brazil winning on four occasions: 1983 Mexico, 1985 Soviet Union, 1993 Australia and 2003 United Arab Emirates. Being the goal scoring team with 16 goals so far in the competition, the Ghanaians have been labeled as having the best striking force in the person of Dominic Adiyiah and Ransford Osei, both scoring 12 goals. However, Ghana�s defence has always been questionable having conceded 8 goals in 6 matches. Brazil on the other hand have scored 14 goals and conceded only three. The match promises to be a nervy and tension packed one, as both Ghana and Brazil are well noted for their swift attacking football and good inter-positional passes. Though history favours the Selecao of Brazil, the Black Satellites have shown in the tournament that on any given day, they can cause an upset. Ghana�s Satellites road to the finals has seen them defeat countries such as Uruguay, Uzbekistan, England, South Africa and Hungary. Teams like Czech Republic, Coast Rica and Australia have all been defeated by Brazil in the competition. A win by Ghana would make them the first African country to win the competition since it started in 1977. In 1993, when Ghana played Brazil in Australia, nothing much more or less than the cup was at stake. Brazil eventually emerged victor, going away with a 2-1 win over Ghana. Sixteen years down memory lane, a lot has changed; football has had its fair share of evolution. Today players are bought at figures that could equal a major chunk of some poor country�s GDP. The two teams, since the Sydney encounter, have seen much development in their football. Ghana qualified to the World Cup for the first time, hosted the rest of Africa on home soil to Ghana 2008, been to major tournaments at both junior and senior levels and just recently, and for the second consecutive time has made it to another World Cup, the first country to do so. Brazil on the other hand, has had its fair share of successes to fill those sixteen years too: a World Cup to be hosted in 2014, recently announced host of the 2016 Olympics and a Chattam House award for her president. On that fateful day when the Satellites were beaten to the trophy, many were those who just couldn�t come to grips with that fact, but in football there is always a way of turning back the hands of time, relive and possibly rewrite history. Three weeks ago some 21 gallant young men left Accra under very �unpleasant� circumstances for the Egyptian capital of Cairo all in search of glory on a platform so big as the Paraohs�. They�ve fought well, weathered the dust storms, stemmed the tide, defied all odds and made complete nonsense of the basic laws of gravity and velocity on green fields from Ismailia to Suez and back to Cairo. A journey that began on a rather impressive outing against Uzbekistan is all coming down at the magnificent Cairo International Stadium today. Ghana Ghana set off, in usual brilliance when they beat Uzbekistan by two goals to one, then recorded a trouncing 4-0 victory over England. This was followed by a pulsating two all drawn game against Uruguay. Ghana made amends in their 1/16th stage clash with South Africa, and recorded wins over Korea and Hungary. Brazil, flamboyantly recorded a stunning 5-0 win over Costa Rica and followed it up with a drawn game against the Czech Republic. Australia was next in line as they fell too cheaply to the Selacao. A win against Croatia in the 1/16th stage, Germany in the quarter finals and Uruguay in the semi finals were just enough to book them a final date with the champions of Africa, Ghana. Ghana goes into this game with its full compliment, Freestate stars� Jonathan Mensah returns to action as usual to replace Wa All Stars� Bright Addae who simply was not up to standard when he featured in the semi final clash against Hungary. On many occasions that he proved to be efficient, his actions were either too combative or over elaborative. Jonathan, coming in for him after serving a one match ban, is sure to tighten up things in the defense. With Daniel Addo in fantastic form and shape, the Satellites should have very little to worry today.