Liberia wins African amputee football tournament


 

November 27, 2011

Liberia played a determined game to defeat host Ghana 4-2 on penalties to win the African amputee football tournament at the Sports Stadium here on Saturday.

The defending champions came from two goals down in the first half to level three, all during regulation time, pushing the grand finale into extra time at the final day of the week-long third African Cup of Nations for the amputee football tournament, which kicked off on Saturday last week.

Both teams played spectacular football in the action-packed extra period but failed to put the ball at the back of the net, sending the fixture into penalty shoot-out to decide the winner.

Ghana missed two spot kicks while Liberia scored four, which put a seal on the championship for the second consecutive time.

Speaking with Xinhua, Cooper George, head coach of the Lone Stars, nickname of Liberia's national amputee team, expressed delight over the win, saying that his side was better placed to annex the next African amputee "holy grail" in 2013.

"We thank God for giving us the strength to win this tournament ... We are aiming to win the next championship to write our names in the history of amputee football in Africa and the world at large," he added.

Earlier, Angola thumped Sierra Leone 3-0 to win the bronze.

Liberian captain Festus Harrison was named the best player of the tournament while Ghana duo Cephas Abban and Collins Gyamfi were voted best defender and goalking respectively.

Dabate Manuel of Angola emerged best goalkeeper while Niger received the fair play award.

Each member of the first best three national teams was presented with medals with Liberia lifting the trophy.

The tournament, organized by the Amputee Football Federation of Africa and Ghana Amputee Football Federation, were participated by six teams from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Angola, Nigeria and Ghana.