The Black Stars of Ghana were given a reality check in their preparatory exercise ahead of the 2021 AFCON.
Ghana, four time African champions played Algeria in a friendly at the Education City Stadium ahead of the 2021 AFCON to be held in Cameroon.
Coach Milovan Rajevac paraded a side that excluded the Ayew brothers, goalkeeper Joseph Wollacott and Baba Abdul Rahman against the defending African champions.
Ghana went down as early as the 8th minute when Adam Ounas dummied left back, Gideon Mensah to slot the ball behind Abdul Manaf Nurudeen in post for the Black Stars.
The Algerians continued to enjoy possession afterwards, with Adam Ounas, Youssef Balaili and Yacine Brahimi creating some decent chances but failing to score as Ghana struggled to string passes together.
The Algerians held on to the slim 1-0 lead into the first half break.
Back from recess, Abdul Fatawu Issahaku managed to call Algeria goalkeeper, Rais M’Bolhi to duty with a cut in strike but that was parried for a corner kick which Ghana wasted.
With 52 minutes played, Joseph Paintsil maneuvered his way into the Algeria defence where he was brought down but referee will point to the corner spot instead of the penalty call by Ghana.
Benjamin Tetteh was set up by Abdul Fatawu Issahaku on the 61st minute but his strike was saved by Rais M’Bolhi to still keep Ghana a goal down.
Coach Milovan Rajevac handed Great Olympics striker, Maxwell Abbey a senior after he replaced Richmond Boakye Yiadom on the 67th minute.
Ghana will be dealt a blow when Jonathan Mensah scored an own goal on the 74th minute. Left back, Gideon Mensah was completely beaten before Youcef Atal’s cross was tapped in by Jonathan Mensah to lift Algeria 2-0 up.
Algeria increased the tally at 3-0 when Islam Slimani tapped in Saïd Benrahma’s low cross which Ghana goalkeeper, Lawrence Ati Zigi failed to deal with on the 78th minute.
The defending champions will run away with a 3-0 win ahead of the 2021 AFCON which starts on January 9.
