Emmanuel
Agyemang-Badu
opened the
scoring for the
2013 Africa Cup
of Nations after converting from
a well-worked
move before
Kwadwo Asamoah
gave Ghana a
two-goal lead, but goals from
Tresor Mputu and Mbokani drew DR Congo level. Both sides started the game well,
each winning a corner kick inside
two minutes but both defences
held their ground and cleared the
danger. Congo were then first to get
their passing game together
after that early period but the
Ghanaians also grew into it with
only some last ditch defending
preventing Udinese's Agyemang- Badu from getting a clear shot at
goal from a well-placed cut-back. Congo replied with a chance of
their own as some good work
down the right flank set up
Lualua whose effort was parried
onto the bar by Fatau Dauda. A similar move saw Mbokani set
up Mputu whose effort flew high
as DRC looked to exploit the
weakness of Asamoah playing at a
largely unfamiliar left-back role.
The Ghanaians settled back into the game and both sides
continued to have a go at each
other though no clear cut
chances were created until
Asamoah Gyan was played
through on-goal with pin-point accuracy by Derek Boateng, but
the Al-Ain forward dallied too
much and sliced the ball wide. Congo responded with a sustained
period of pressure but the
Leopards were stung in the 40th
minute as Agyemang-Badu scored
the first goal of the tournament
after an amazing bit of play from Asamoah who played a quick one-
two with Gyan before setting up
Agyemang-Badu for the tap-in. DR Congo went right back into
the Ghanaian half sustaining
another period of pressure but
were almost caught out again as
Mutebe Kidiaba had to react
quickly on the stroke of half time to prevent a fierce in-swinging
cross from getting to its target. The Ghanaians came out well in
the second half carving out
another good opening but Kidiaba
did well to save at his near post.
But Asamoah was on hand to
head in from the resulting corner taken by Mubarak Wakaso to give
the Ghanaians a two-goal cushion
four minutes into the second half. Congo responded to the goal as
they had responded to all
Ghana's chances in the game,
with another period of pressure but this time
they made good use of it as
Mputu did well to pull one back
with a smooth finish after a great
through ball put him in a position
to slot past the keeper. Congo sustained the period of
pressure and were robbed of an
equaliser only by a couple of very
good last ditch tackles. The
Ghanaians responded again but
Gyan failed to get his effort on goal past the first defender
despite being in a very good
position. Congo were, however,
level in the 67th minute after a
smooth finish from the spot by
Dieumerci Mbokani who won the spot kick off Jeremiah Akaminko. Gyan then stung Kidiaba's palms
with a fierce shot a couple of
minutes later before heading wide
from a good cross in the 73rd
minute as the Ghanaians looked
to get back in front. Kidiaba then had to make a great save from a
tricky free kick barely a minute
later from Wakaso whose delivery
was causing DR Congo a lot of
problems. The Leopards, however,
caused problems of their own, with Dauda having to produce a
world class save to prevent his
side from going behind. Both sides tried to find the
winner but neither managed it
with Congo having a scare late
into injury time as Kidiaba almost
carried a save from Gyan's
header into his own net, as the 29th edition of the Africa Cup of
Nations is still yet to see any
team win a game. Both sides will
however will be looking to build on
this result against the other
group members, Mali and Niger.