The Black Satellites of Ghana were held to a pulsating draw by the male national U20 team of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Group C of the 2025 Africa U20 Cup of Nations at Suez Stadium.
The Ghana U20 team failed to commence their campaign at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt with a victory after a 1-1 stalemate with DR Congo on Friday evening.
Following the late arrival of some key players, including Jerry Afriyie, Abdul Aziz Issah and Clinton Duodu, coach Desmond Ofei handed starting berths to Real Sociedad's Andrews Adjabeng, Joseph Opoku, Phenyin-Denis Marfo, Abdul Hakim Sulemana and others.
The Black Satellites commenced the opening fixture on a good note with some fearsome attacks in the early minutes, but they failed to make them count. The Congolese punished the 2009 World champions with the lead in the 16th minute of the game.
Captain Samuel Ntanda-Lukisa opened the scoring for DR Congo with a brilliant header when he leapt high of the Ghanaian defenders to connect with a low cross from Messy Mubundu Manitu.
Ghana continued their impressive performance despite being down with the hopes of getting the equaliser before the break as Marfo came close, but his effort missed by a whisker.
In the 22nd minute, Andrews Adjabeng had a golden opportunity to level the score for the Black Satellites, but his strike went off target.
Dreams FC striker Aziz Musibau notched up the equaliser with a volley from a cross delivered into the Congolese box by Emmanuel Mensah in the 24th minute of the game.
Ghana could be found guilty for failing to take advantage of the Congo's defensive blunders to have the lead before the break, as it ended in a one-all draw.
Five minutes after the recess, Ghana came close to registering their second goal, but Aziz Musibau squandered the one-on-one chance after going past the backline of the Congolese.
The Congolese took over possession to dominate the game, but Ghana's goalkeeper Gidios Aseako made magnificent saves to deny Ibrahim Mubalu and Messy Mubundu Manitu from registering their names on the score sheet.
The second-half introduction of Jerry Afriyie, Abdul Aziz Issah and Joseph Aidoo couldn't have any impact on the Ghana team to aid them in snatching the match-winner as it ended in a 1-1 draw at the Suez Stadium.
Earlier, Senegal were also held to a 1-1 draw by the Central African Republic (CAR) in the other Group C fixture.
