A fine opportunistic goal by striker Sadiq Ibrahim enabled two time champions Ghana pip dominating but error prone Colombia 1-0 to open their campaign in the FIFA U-17 World Cup with full points at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi on Friday.

The South Americans must be rueing their chances and luck as they squandered away some easy opportunities and lost the opener which they should have won.

However Ghana cannot be denied their share of glory. They fought well till the end and held on to the lead which they got in the 39th minute for the remaining 51 minutes.

The two teams played at a blistering pace throughout with the Colombians have more share of the ball but the Africans were quick in short bursts. Playing with the identical 4-3-2-1, the teams dished out high voltage football.

Both the teams started attacking each other’s citadel from the very start creating few good openings. The action packed session was also full of contrasts. While the South American were more skilful, the Africans were very fast. What was more amazing was the way two teams battled it out in the humid conditions showing no signs of fatigue.

For the Colombians striker Leandro Campaz led the charge and was ably supported by captain and mid fielder Thomas Gutierrez. Despite having an edge, they could not convert the chances into goal.

Africans after muffing up a chance in the early stages of the games, looked more organized and made several counter attacks from the left with mid fielder Sadiq Ibarhim and forward Eric Ayiah keeping their left flank active. The Colombians kept the pressure but time and again their attack lacked the penetration and they looked poor marksmen.

In this whole battle for supremacy the goalkeepers of both the teams came up with some stunning showing. Ghana custodian Danlad Ibrahim brought off some super save while Kevin Meir did well for the Colombians.

Mier denied Ghana a chance to surge ahead when he foiled Sadiq Ibrahim solo attempt and Danlad came to the rescue of his side immediately after that when he brought of a splendid save off Campaz’s shot.

The Africans then launched another furious attack with Rashid Al Hassan and Kwame Aziz setting up Sadiq whose shot however missed the target.

Colombians retaliated but against failed to break the deadlock and then in the 39thminutes Ghana scored leaving their rivals baffled. Aminu Mohammed ran down the flank sent the ball to Sadiq who deflected the ball home (1-O) and that in the end turned out to be the winner.

The second session saw Colombia going flat out for equalizer and they attacked from the flanks the centre. They breached the defence but only to see either their strikers misfiring or failing to beat Danlad under the bar.

Ghanaians kept their cool, kept the pace and the tempo and made some incisive moves while defending their lead and they succeeded in that.