Ghana Go Down In Japan Friendly

Asamoah Gyan celebrates scoring early in the second half © Photo: MTNfootball.com

September 10, 2009

Japan staged a dramatic comeback as substitute Junichi Inamoto's late strike helped the Asians to come from behind to edge Ghana 4-3 in an entertaining friendly in Holland on Wednesday.

Ghana, who secured their place at next year's World Cup on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Sudan, went ahead in the 31st minute when a corner taken by Sulley Muntari hit the hand of Yuto Nagatomo and Asamoah Gyan converted the penalty.

The African side moved further ahead early in the second half when Gyan shook off defender Yuji Nakazawa and fired home.

But Japan responded in the 54th minute when Kengo Nakamura picked up a loose ball and struck into the net.

Ghana responded in the 67th minute with yet another goal when Matthew Amoah latched on to a cross and rounded the goalkeeper before slotting home.

Japan coach Takeshi Okada brought on Keiji Tamada and Keisuke Honda midway through the second half and the balance of the game began to swing their way.

They reduced the deficit in the 78th minute when Tamada fired home before Shinji Okazaki connected with an Inamoto cross a minute later and headed the ball into the net to level the scores.

Inamoto then struck a dramatic winner to cap a fine comeback from Japan.