GHANA 1  CAMEROON 1

Co-hosts Ghana salvaged a 1-1 draw with Cameroon in the African
Nations Cup-opener on Saturday because of some stunningly bad
finishing by the Indomitable Lions.
  Cameroon took a 20th minute lead through West Ham United's
Marc-Vivien Foe, dominated the first half and could have
comfortably wrapped up the game with more accurate shooting.
Instead, the Black Stars, four times Nations Cup champions,
hit back with a classy strike by Kwame Ayew in the 57th minute
and came close to snatching three points in a group which also
features Togo and Ivory Coast.
  Foe headed in from a rebound after Laurent Mayer's shot had
rebounded off the bar as Cameroon took early control.
Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingston saved a Rigobert Song
header on the line with his legs, then Joseph-Desire Job
contrived to fire the ball over the bar from four metres from a
chance created by a Salomon Olembe overhead kick.
  Kingston saved Ghana again just before halftime, blocking a
shot from Job after the home side's rearguard was breached.
Ghana managed only one decent effort before halftime, when
Christian Gyan fired wide from the edge of the penalty area.
Cameroon were guilty of another astonishing miss in the 49th
minute when Patrick Mboma emulated Job's earlier blunder by
firing over an empty goal from point-blank range.
  Eight minutes later, Ayew equalised, finishing clinically
after a neat one-two with substitute Peter Ofari-Quaye.
Cameroon goalkeeper Boukar Alioum made a tremendous save to
deny Otto Addo, then blocked a close-range effort by Ofori-Quaye
with his legs as Ghana came close to winning.
By Brian Homewood - Reuters


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