Goals from the Ayew brothers, Andre and Jordan saw 10-man Ghana play to a 2-2 draw with Benin in their Group F match in Ismailia on Tuesday evening.
Ghana were unable to open their AFCON 2019 account with victory and had to settle for the shares of the spoils versus a very much spirited Benin as the curtains were drawn on the first round of the competition in Egypt.
After earlier on witnessing fellow group favourites Cameroon navigate their Guinea Bissau hurdle, the Stars were expected to pick up the gauntlet but what befell them was a very much resilient and resolute Benin side who stunned Ghana after just 103 seconds of proceedings here at the Ismaili stadium.
Turkish based forward Mickael Pote would eventually turn out to be a real torn in the flesh of Ghana all evening but it all began after he took advantage of some really insipid defending with all of John Boye, Kassim Adams and Lumor contriving to hand Pote a chance to virtually walk through the heart of the Ghanaian defence to break the deadlock.
But that Benin lead was short-lived with captain Andre Ayew almost immediately pulling parity for the Stars on the minute mark. Kassim Nuhu would float a ball from the back which located Jordan Ayew who would in turn cross the ball to fall gracefully for Dede to hammer home a fine left footed strike to draw Ghana level.
And from that point, it felt Ghana would go on and make their much vaunted quality count and so it proved on the 42nd minute mark when Jordan beautifully controlled yet another long pass from Kassim to find the back of the twine with an equally delectable finish. Ghana went into the break looking home and dry for victory and came back into the second half looking to once and for all stamp their authority on proceedings only to be undone by a referring decision which turned out to be the turning point of the game.
But that Benin lead was short-lived with captain Andre Ayew almost immediately pulling parity for the Stars on the minute mark. Kassim Nuhu would float a ball from the back which located Jordan Ayew who would in turn cross the ball to fall gracefully for Dede to hammer home a fine left footed strike to draw Ghana level.
And from that point, it felt Ghana would go on and make their much vaunted quality count and so it proved on the 42nd minute mark when Jordan beautifully controlled yet another long pass from Kassim to find the back of the twine with an equally delectable finish. Ghana went into the break looking home and dry for victory and came back into the second half looking to once and for all stamp their authority on proceedings only to be undone by a referring decision which turned out to be the turning point of the game.
John Boye, who had earlier on been booked in the first half for a cynical challenge received his marching orders just 9 minutes into the second half after he was adjudged to have wasted time effecting a freekick Ghana had won. Samuel Owusu who had come on for the stricken Thomas
Agyepong and was on hand to impress on his debut had to be sacrificed for Jonathan Mensah to come and shore up the central defence.
But Benin would waste no time in making their advantage count with Poke taking advantage of yet another bad piece of defending from the Stars. A corner kick was floated into the box and with nobody particularly marking out Pote, he was on hand to poke home the resultant cross from close range to pull parity for Benin.
A few chances followed from both sides as well as some further speculative efforts but there was very little to make merry about as the clock kept winding down with the likes of Jordan, Atsu and Dede all struggling to make an impact for Ghana having been left isolated with Ghana having their backs to the wall on occasion.
And that would turn out to be the story as Ghana head into the second round of games in the group in dire need of victory versus holders Cameroon who sit at the top of the standings.
Benin meet Guinea Bissau in the other game all on Saturday as Egypt 2019 begin hitting a crescendo.
Total Man of the Match: Jordan Ayew (Ghana)
