Two-goal hero Gyan leads Ghana fightback in friendly draw against Turkey

Published on: 14 August 2013
Two-goal hero Gyan leads Ghana fightback in friendly draw against Turkey
Asamoah Gyan hit a brace to save Ghana

Asamoah Gyan cemented his superstar status for Ghana as he scored both goals to help the Black Stars rally from two goals down to hold Turkey to a 2-2 draw in Istanbul on Wednesday night.

The Black Stars found themselves two goals down within the first 28 minutes of the game with the deadly striking duo of Burak Yilmaz and Umut Bulut causing all the havoc.

Yilmaz opened the scoring in the 7th minute as he capitalized on a defensive mishap to score with a composed finish.

His Galatasaray strike partner Bulut got in on the act by heading in from a well orchestrated move in the 28th minute.

The Ghana defence at this time was saddled with errors while struggling to create anything going forward.

The Black Stars were even lucky not to have conceded more as the game went into recess with the Turkish well on top.

Coach Akwasi Appiah rang some changes at the restart – bringing on danger man Asamoah Gyan and Razak Braimah to replace Christian Atsu and Adam Kwarasey respectively.

Dominic Adiyiah came close to halving the deficit but his ferociously struck shot cannoned off the post – much to the agonizing look of coach Akwasi Appiah on the sidelines.

The Ghana game improved instantly as the team looked more purposeful going forward while beginning to shut the door at the rear but it was to get better.

Appiah a few minutes later threw in Kwadwo Asamoah and Daniel Opare for Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu and Samuel Inkoom respectively right at the time Ghana was at its threatening best upfront.

Ghana’s sustained pressure yielded results as Asamoah Gyan picked up a long throw from goalkeeper Razak Braimah, cut in from the left to slot in at the near post to bring the Black Stars back into the game in the 61st minute.

The Al Ain ace wasn't done as he rose highest to head in a sweet Daniel Opare cross 14 minutes later to complete a well-deserved comeback for the Black Stars.

Striker Mahatma Otoo who had earlier been brought on for Dominic Adiyiah alongside Yusif Rahman Chibsah had two chances in quick succession but failed to find the desired target.

The Ghana team had fully stabilized and was beginning to dictate the pace with Kwadwo Asamoah pulling all the strings in midfield.

Both sides however looked to have run out of steam as the game gradually grinded to the end with a significant drop in tempo.

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