Grant leads Ghana to African Cup final amidst chaotic scenes
Avram Grant’s Ghana side booked their place in Sunday’s final of the African Cup of Nations after beating hosts Equatorial Guinea 3-0 in a match which was marred by violent crowd trouble.
Having gone into the break 2-0 up, thanks to Jordan Ayew’s penalty and Mubarak Wakaso strike, the players left the pitch under police guard as plastic bottles and objects were being thrown onto the pitch from the stands.
However, that was nothing to what faced the Ghanaian supporters once their team went 3-0 up with 15 minutes of play remaining when Andre Ayew tapped the ball home. Within three minutes, their fans were forced to walk on to the pitch and to amass behind one of the goals for their own safety as the home supporters continued to pelt them with objects which included rocks and broken mirrors.
Play was suspended for more than half an hour, riot police filed into the stadium to escort the Ghana supporters out of the stadium, while a helicopter was flown in to try and disperse the unruly crowd.
Play finally resumed for three minutes of injury time before the referee blew full-time on what was a shameful night for African football.
While Ghanaian officials called the stadium a ‘war zone, with Ghana FA president Kwesi Nyantakyi saying: “We are lucky that we haven’t lost any lives, though people have sustained various degrees of injuries arising from objects thrown at them,” Grant said: “I didn’t know what was happening, I saw something on the pitch, some incident or violence.
“I can’t say I wasn’t concerned, I care about the security of my players, it’s very important to me.”
Ghana will take on Ivory Coast in Sunday evening’s final.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
