“No Thomas, no Partey,” Thomas Partey’s free-kick earns the Black Stars a decisive victory in World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe

Ghana kept their World Cup ambitions intact with a hard-fought one-nil victory over bottom rocked Zimbabwe at the National Sports stadium in Harare.

Thomas Partey’s ferocious freekick was enough to temporarily put the Black Stars at the summit of group G with nine points after four games.

 

The three-time World Cup participants began the game on a slower note compared to how they commenced the first fixture in Cape Coast with Zimbabwe basically causing threats in the opening fifteen minutes.

Skipper Knowledge Musona and star man Khama Billiat caused some havoc on the right hand side of Ghana’s defense manned by Daniel Amartey.

But Milovan Rajevac’s men upped the ante with Suleymana, Kudus and Partey finding control moving up front and it came as little to no surprise when the Black Stars broke the deadlock via Thomas Partey.

Baba Rahman tried to meander his way in a forest of Zimbabwean legs but was brought down by his market and up stepped Thomas Partey, who was captain of the day following the decision of the coach to bench Andre Ayew, who blasted an unstoppable freekick beyond the Warriors’ goalie after 31 minutes.

A number of half-hearted incursions from both sides yielded no effect on the scorelines as the West African nation held their own for the break.

After recess, the game was fairly balanced but Ghana could have doubled their lead but for the crossbar which denied Mohammed Kudus a second goal against the same opponents.

The skillful Suleymana was hurled off at the hour mark for St. Pauli attacker Daniel Kofi Kyereh while defender Alexander Djiku had to be substituted in what appeared to be a minor injury as Joseph Aidoo of Celta Vigo took his position.

The former Inter Allies skipper nearly had a nightmarish introduction when his back pass was badly hit and almost caused troubles for Ghana but for the anticipation of Jojo Wolacott to keep the Zimbabweans at bay.

In the dying embers of the game, the Serbian trainer introduced Samuel Owusu, Andre Ayew and Caleb Ekuban for Benjamin Tetteh, Kudus Mohammed and Jordan Ayew as the Black Stars held on for a narrow win.

The win means the four-time African champions have completed the double over the Southern African nation, ranked 113 on the FIFA Coca Cola World