Ghana have won the WAFU Under 20 Cup by beating Senegal after the game ended 1-1 after extra time at the Oghara Stadium in Delta State, Nigeria.

The Senegalese who played with 10 men for the better part of the game after they had a player sent off in the 3rd minute of the game took the lead in the 49th minute through Cheick Umar Ndiaye in the 49th minute.

The Ghanaian came back stronger in the game to score the equaliser through skipper, Dominic Adiyiah in the 56th minute. Efforts by the two sides to score the winning goal even during extra time proved abortive and Ghana won 3-2 from the penalty kick to lift the trophy.

The Senegalese who bundled out host Nigeria and Cote D'Iviore were not lucky in the penalty shoot out this time after bundling out Nigeria the same way in the quarterfinal. Analysts say that Kudos should be given to Senegal who improve with each game at the competition and may have lifted the trophy if they had not been reduced to 10 men in the early part of the encounter.

Ghana coach Sellas Tetteh said that the victory was good as he prepares his team for the African Youth Championship in Rwanda in January, assuring that the foreign-based players would be given the opportunity to fight for places in the team.

WAFU President, Dr Amos Adamu commended the teams for their performance and said that it was encouraging to note that 14 teams out of the 16 turned up for the tournament. Wednesday’s final was watched by scores of football dignitaries including the CAF president Issa Hayatou and Gambia’s Alhaji OB Conateh, who was honoured with the honourary life vice-presidency of the sub-regional union.