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Ghana thought they would fly to Washington on Wednesday with a victory finally under their belts, England soon in their sights. After five straight friendly defeats since qualifying for the World Cup last October, they had to settle for a draw in Carlos Queiroz’s first game in charge after Lewis Koumas’s stoppage-time equaliser.
Presumably Thomas Tuchel, five hours behind Cardiff in time-zone, hunkered down somewhere in West Palm Beach to watch England’s second Group L opponents this summer. If Tuchel had the sound on, he wouldn’t have needed to listen too hard to hear the Ghana supporters present delight in Caleb Yirenkyi’s second-half opener, but they were denied victory.
From a Wales perspective, Yirenkyi’s strike was an ugly goal, Dylan Lawlor cheaply losing the ball on halfway and the rest of the back line slowly retreating before the 20-year-old Yirenkyi eventually applied the finish. Craig Bellamy insisted this game was anything but a winding-down experience but it was hard to think otherwise after a lukewarm display. Koumas headed in from Neco Williams’ inviting cross to deny Queiroz the dream platform for the summer.
For the noisy Ghanaian contingent that tried to turn this game into something of an occasion – only Wales’s second against African opponents and the first since a 4-0 defeat in Tunisia in 1998 – there was little to whet the appetite for when the real thing begins against Panama on 18 June. For Queiroz, though, this was a significant contest, this not only his first game in the job after succeeding Otto Addo, but potentially his last before their Group L opener. Ghana may yet organise another friendly on arrival in Washington, where they will have a week-long training camp before heading to their Boston base.
The buildup to the game was far from ideal for Queiroz, whose squad arrived in dribs and drabs. Ghana’s first training session as a full squad was on Monday, 24 hours before facing Wales, for whom this was part of the healing process since the agony of the playoff defeat to Bosnia in March. Antoine Semenyo, surely the Black Stars’ brightest star, was one of the last players to report for duty last weekend, his first main action as part of the group at a mini golf teambuilding session on Sunday morning and the Manchester City forward began on the bench here, alongside Athletic’s Iñaki Williams, another late arrival, and the Coventry forward Brandon Thomas-Asante, who entered at half-time.
Queiroz said he had no qualms over naming Thomas Partey in his 26-man squad for the summer, with the midfielder now of Villarreal due to stand trial next year. Partey has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of rape and one count of sexual assault relating to allegations by four different women between 2020 and 2022. Queiroz handed the former Arsenal midfielder a start at the base of midfield and, in truth, if this was not a friendly Partey may have seen red before the interval. The 32-year-old was booked for a foul on Dan James, who twice hit the woodwork in the first half, but escaped further punishment after scything down an advancing David Brooks on the edge of the area. Unsurprisingly, Partey was withdrawn at the interval, brought off before being sent off?
The first action of note saw the Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi, who plays for Swiss club St Gallen, make a sprawling save to push James’s effort on to a post and a couple of minutes later the Leeds winger cracked a shot against the crossbar. Abdul Fatawu and Jordan Ayew, both of whom tasted relegation to League One with Leicester this season, formed part of Ghana’s attack alongside the former Southampton winger Kamaldeen Sulemana. Ayew passed up the first half’s best opportunity, allowing Karl Darlow to smother the ball after seizing on a poor pass by the Wales goalkeeper.
Ghana made a quadruple change at half-time, including a change in goal, with Benjamin Asare replacing Ati-Zigi. Wales introduced a trio of substitutes on the hour, including a debut for the Swansea forward Cameron Congreve, who spent last season on loan at Dundee. A raft of changes only exacerbated the exhibition nature of this game, the Ghana defender Gideon Mensah almost scoring an own goal when inadvertently putting the ball beyond his own goal.
For the 2,000 or so Ghana supporters, soon after arrived the undeniable moment of the match. It was midway through the second half when the substitutes Yirenkyi and Ernest Nuamah, of Lyon, combined, culminating in the former scoring from close range. Nuamah charged at Joe Rodon and sent a shot at Darlow. At first the Nordsjælland midfielder Yirenkyi rattled a post but he promptly beat Williams to the rebound to turn up the volume in the away end.
