Ghana struck a blow for African pride, defeating Brazil in a penalty shootout Friday at the FIFA U-20 World Cup final in Cairo.
After previously losing in the final to Brazil (in 1993) and to Argentina (2001), Ghana finally came good on Friday, to become the first African team to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup since the inaugural competition in 1977.
Ghana striker Dominic Adiyiah won the Golden Ball award as the tournament MVP. He also claimed the Golden Shoe as the competition's top scorer with eight goals.
"We achieved something people said would be impossible," Ghana captain Andre Ayew said. "I hope an African team wins the World Cup next year. We have a great team. The Ghana fans demand a lot, I hope we live up to their expectations."
The two teams battled to a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of extra time, before Ghana won 4-3 in the shootout.
Ghana's Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu scored the winning penalty to make it 4-3 after Brazil's Maicon missed a chance to win it at 3-2.
Ghana was reduced to 10 men when defender Eric Addo was controversially shown a red card in the 37th minute when he was judged to be the last man back as he hauled down Brazil's Alex Teixeira.
Even though Brazil had the man advantage, they struggled to make use of it, as Ghana held the South American powerhouse off the scoreboard before winning it in the shootout.
Striker Alan Kardec spurned four scoring chances for Brazil in the second half, while Daniel Aygei kept Ghana in the game earlier in extra time when he made a great point-blank save from Maicon.
Ghana is the first non-South American country to win the tournament in 10 years. Spain, in 1999, was the last nation outside of South America to claim the championship — Argentina and Brazil combined to win the four previous tournaments.
"This is a wonderful historic event for Africa. Now Africans can believe in themselves that they can do it," said Ghana coach Sellas Tetteh.
Tetteh added that Ghana's win would boost African sides at the World Cup next year in South Africa.
"We've shown them the way. Africa will surely have a lot of hope and confidence [at the World Cup] that they can do it like we did here."
The Samba Boys were adamant they were the better side on the field, if not the score sheet.
"There's a feeling of sadness. We were better in the match, created more chances, against a strong team," Brazil's Giuliano said. "If you look at the whole match, it was an unfair result."
Brazil coach Rogerio Lourenco said his team tired itself out on the attack, and Ghana capitalized.
"Of course, if you have 11 players creating chances they get more tired than a team with nine men at the back," he said.
"I told the players to create chances and they did — we were not able to score today but they've done a great job throughout the tournament. When it gets to penalties, there's nothing you can blame or regret."
Hungary wins bronze
Seeming dead and buried, Hungary pulled off a minor miracle to win the bronze medal earlier in the day in Cairo.
Down a goal late in the third-place game, Hungary scored in injury time to level the score and then beat Costa Rica 2-0 in the shootout.
After an uneventful opening 45 minutes, the pace picked up considerably in the second half, with both teams looking to break the deadlock.
Costa Rica appeared to have secured a win when forward Marcos Urena scored his third goal of the tournament with nine minutes left in regulation.
But Costa Rican defender Jose Rena hauled down Hungary's Krisztain Nemeth inside the penalty area late in the game, earning his second yellow card of the game.
Vladimir Koman converted from the penalty spot to send the game to a shootout.
With files from The Associated Press
