Ghana's Dominic Adiyiah, third left, runs after he scored his first goal against Hungary on Tuesday. (Amr Nabil/Associated Press)Dominic Adiyiah scored two goals to guide Ghana to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Hungary in the semifinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt on Tuesday.
Ghana advances to Friday's final (CBCSports.ca, 1:50 p.m. ET) where they will meet Brazil, a 1-0 winner over Costa Rica in Tuesday's other semifinal.
Hungary will play Costa Rica in Friday's bronze-medal match (CBCSports.ca, 10:55 a.m. ET).
Ghana will try to become the first African team to win the competition, while Brazil aims to win it for the fifth time on Friday in Cairo. Ghana lost to Brazil in the 1993 final in Australia.
"Zooming to the finals is a big thing and we've done that beautifully," Ghana coach Sellas Tetteh said. "We are 90 minutes away from lifting a trophy."
The Hungarians controlled the first few minutes of Tuesday's contest, but Adiyiah bagged a pair of goals to give the Africans a 2-1 lead going into halftime.
Adiyiah scored on a toe-poke from inside the six-yard box at the 10-minute mark following a disastrous back-pass by Hungary that was intercepted by Ghana captain Dede Ayew.
Adiyiah netted his tournament-leading eighth goal of the competition 21 minutes later, connecting on a powerful header off a cross from the right wing from teammate Samuel Inkoom.
Hungary showed more urgency at the start of the second half and made Ghana pay for not putting the game away in the 73rd minute. Marko Futacs, who entered the game as a sub just two minutes earlier, slotted the ball home from close range to make it 2-1 and put pressure on the Africans.
The Hungarians furiously pressed for the equalizer, but Ghana's bend-but-don't break defence held firm, and midfielder Kwame Quansah scored with nine minutes left to give the Africans a 3-1 lead.
Adam Balajti scored three minutes later to cut Ghana's advantage down to a single goal, but that was as close as Hungary would come.
Adiyiah is three behind Argentine striker Javier Saviola's tournament record of 11 goals in 2001. Brazilian striker Adailton scored 10 in 1997.
"We played well overall, even though the second half wasn't like the first. But if we win the final playing that then we'll be happy," Ayew said. "We're not necessarily looking to play pretty football at this stage of the competition."
Brazil dominated the first half, but it was Costa Rica who carved out the best scoring chances, forcing Brazilian goalkeeper Rafael to make a pair of brilliant saves in the opening 45 minutes.
Costa Rica continued to defend in numbers in the second half, and extra time appeared to be looming, but Brazi's Alan Kardec scored in the 67th minute to break the deadlock.
With files from Associated Press
