Ghanaians are celebrating the Black Stars' win over the La Roja of Chile in the just-ended 2022 Kirin Cup in Japan on Tuesday, June 14, 2022.
Goalkeeper Abdul Manaf Nurudeen has been singled out by many Ghanaians for
Read full articlepraise for his exceptional performance against the Chileans while claiming that he has already secured a spot in the team for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Securing the third spot in the Kirin Cup is not a monumental achievement and ordinarily, Ghanaians wouldn't care about the results but winning on penalties meant something.
Ghanaians have been hearth broken from the penalty shootout on several occasions in the history of Ghana football and the last decade has been worse.
In this episode of the GhanaWeb Features, we take a look at Ghana's last five penalty shootouts.
2010:Uruguay vs Ghana (World Cup quarter-final)
While the Black Stars were carrying the flag of Africa high by becoming the only team from the continent to make it to the quarter-final stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the story ended from the penalty spot.
Ghanaians in 2010 thought that the team had broken the penalty curse because prior to the quarter-final match against Uruguay, the Black Stars had converted all their penalties in the tournament through Asamoah Gyan but were eliminated from the penalty spot.
After Asamoah Gyan failed to convert from the penalty in stoppage time, the Black Stars lost 4-2 in the penalty shootout thus ending their campaign in the Mundial.
2013: Ghana vs Burkina Faso (AFCON Semi-final)
The penalty curse continued in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
After a 1-1 scoreline after extra-time, the Stallions of Burkina Faso progressed to the finals of the 2013 AFCON after beating the Black Stars 3-2 on penalties.
Christian Atsu and Harrison scored in the shootout while the missed kicks from Isaac Vorsah, Emmanuel Clottey, and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu ended Ghana's dreams in the semi-finals.
2015: Ghana vs Ivory Coast (AFCON Final)
The Elephants of La Cote d'Ivoire won their second Africa Cup of Nations title at the expense of the Black Stars of Ghana.
After beating Ghana 11-10 in a penalty shootout to win the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal, the Ivorians repeated the same feet in Equatorial Guinea to win their second in 2015.
The game ended goalless after extra-time and the Black Stars lost 9-8 in the shootout.
2019:Tunisia vs Ghana (AFCON)
Ghana's bad performance in the Africa Cup of Nations in recent times began in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt when the team were eliminated from the round of 16 stage by the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.
The Black Stars lost 5-4 in the penalty shootout after Caleb Ansah Ekuban's kick was saved by the Tunisian goalkeeper.
2022: Chile vs Ghana (Kirin Cup)
After 10 years of consistent penalty shootout heartbreaks, Ghanaians were given some hope ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar as Ghana won the bronze medal in the Kirin Cup after beating Chile.
Goalkeeper Manaf Nurudeen became the hero of the day after saving two penalties to help the Black Stars defeat the La Roja of Chile 3-1.
While Manaf was saving two penalties in the shootout, Jordan Ayew, Kudus Mohammed, and Abdul Fatawu Issahaku were scoring to make sure that Ghana win the game.
