As Cameroon and Ghana clash in AYC final

African Youth Championship

Cameroon v  Ghana  3pm

Cameroon play Ghana in a fierce battle in the final of the 16th African Youth Championship this afternoon at Amahoro stadium, Kigali.

Both sides reached the final unbeaten in a tournament where 38 goals have been scored so far  and good football played all round.

The Black Satellites edged a seven-goal thriller against South Africa, hanging on to win 4-3 after an action-packed game, while the Young Cubs were 2-0 winners over Nigeria to repeat a group stage clash.

Cameroon will have to stop Ghana’s Ransford Osei if they are to win their second African Youth Championships.

The Maccabi Haifa striker has found the back of the net five times in the tournament to make him the tournament’s top scorer, and will be the man to watch. He scored a brace in the 4-3 win over South Africa.

Other players that could cause trouble for the Young Cubs are; skipper Ayew Andre Dede (Lorient-France) and Dominic Adiyiah (Fredrikstad-Norway).

Cameroon shocked Nigeria 2-0 in the other semifinal when Jacques Zoua and Germain Messina scored the goals to set up a clash with their other West African neighbors.

And boss Alain Wabo is confident that his team can dominate the proceedings and cap it with a win against fancied Ghanaians.

"We have mastered the play of the Ghanaians because they play the same game as the Nigerians.

"They will have a bad outing that they will never forget, we will teach Ghana some lessons, because I know how they play and I have studied all their video tapes.” Wabo said on Friday.

Ghana’s dominance of their group stage match with Cameroon will count for nothing when the two sides meet in today’s final according to Ghana coach Sellas Tetteh.

Tetteh’s side was in inspiring form in their opening game of the competition enroute to a 1-1 draw against the Cameroonians. It was a performance Tetteh called Champagne football without victory but suspects the final will be a lot different.

Tetteh has seen Cameroon evolve into a strong force in the competition ever since but remains confident his side will win.

He said, "I respect the Cameroonians and they have grown from strength to strength and I expect a different game than the group stage tie,” Tetteh said, adding that Cameroon are stronger, fitter but  technically inferior to his team.

"My boys have a learnt a big lesson from the semi-final clash against South Africa and they will go in to the pitch with one thing in mind, score goals and win,” Tetteh said.

Today’s game is a repeat of the 1993 final which Ghana won 2-0 in Mauritius and went ahead to win silver at the World Youth Championship in Australia.

While The Satellites are chasing a third title following success in 1993 and 1999, their opponents are hoping to make it second time lucky after their victory in 1995 when they beat Burundi 4-0 in Nigeria.

Today’s final game will be handled by Rwandan referee Michel Gasingwa who will be assisted by Pare Adolphe Adama (Burkina Faso) and Waldabet Koissoual (Tchad) with Abdel Gadir Badr (Sudan) the fourth official and the mach commissioner will be Souleymane Magassouba (Mali).

Past winners

1979 Algeria
1981 Egypt
1983 Nigeria
1985 Nigeria
1987 Nigeria
1989 Nigeria
1991 Egypt
1993 Ghana
1995 Cameroon
1997 Morocco
1999 Ghana
2001 Angola
2003 Egypt
2005 Nigeria
2007 Congo Brazzaville
2009 ?

Ends