Captain Shafiu Mumuni scored a fantastic hat-trick to power Ghana to grand finale of the ongoing Wafu Championship in Senegal after beating Ivory Coast 3-1 on Tuesday night.
The Black Stars B amazingly put three goals in the Ivorian net before Abubakur Doumbia pulled one back for Ivory Coast in the 78th minute.
Augustine Okrah nearly opened the scoring for Ghana but his thunderous freekick hit the crossbar.
Few minutes later, Ashantigold captain Shafiu Mumuni broke the deadlock for the Black Stars B with a brilliant header to give Maxwell Konadu’s side a first half 1-0 victory.
Back from recess, Augustine Okrah brilliantly set up Shafiu Mumuni to strike his second of the day in the 46th minute.
The Ghanaian team quickly reorganized themselves and kept pushing for more goals. Their incessant pressure finally paid off when Captain Shafiu Mumuni again struck with a sumptuous header to become the first player in the history of the tournament to score a hat-trick.
The Ivorians who were startled by coach Maxwell Konadu and his side’s tactical brilliance started to mount pressure on Ghana and finally reduced the scoreline to 3-1 in the 78th minute.
Maxwell Konadu having noticed that hat-tick hero Shafiu Mumuni was tired brought on his teammate midfielder Appiah McCarthy to replace him in a bid to defend his 3-1 lead.
Goalkeeper Eric Ofori Antwi redeemed his image after gifting Abubakur Doumbia a consolation goal by pulling a fantastic save to deny the ball from entering his net for the second time.
At the end it was the Black Stars B who won 3-1 to book qualification to the finals of the tournament to keep their title defense alive.
Ghana emerge Champions in 2017 when the tournament they hosted it.
