Ghana’s Black Meteors and South Africa will battle it out for the final ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games when both sides face off in the third-place off game on Friday at the Cairo International Stadium.
The Black Meteors failed to secure automatic qualification against Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-finals on Tuesday when they lost 4-2 on penalties after the game ended 2-2 after regulation time.
Ghana came twice from behind to send the game into extra time. The team bottled during the penalty shoot-outs as the Black Meteors missed three of their spots kicks while Cote d’Ivoire converted four of their kicks.
South Africa lost 3-0 to host Egypt in the other semi-final game played on the same day.
The Black Meteors after that disappointing defeat to the Ivorians have switched focus to the third place game where a win will guarantee them a place in the Olympic football tournament.
Ghana has failed to qualify for the Olympic football tournament since 2004 in Athens, Greece and are hoping to break the 15-year jinx.
Speaking after the defeat to Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-finals, Ibrahim Tanko said, “I want to congratulate Cote d’Ivoire who qualified to the final and got their qualification to the Olympics.
“Tonight we missed on penalties, but both teams have given a beautiful image of African football and we still have a chance of Olympic qualification with the ranking match”.
The third place match will kick off at 16:30hrs local time (14:30hrs) at the Cairo International Stadium.
Hosts Egypt will play Cote D’Ivoire in the final match at 2000hrs (1800hrs).
