Ghana 4 - 1 Nigeria

Ghana 4-1 Nigeria

Updated: February 6, 2007, 12:00 PM UK

Ghana beat Nigeria for the first time in 15 years thanks to four second-half goals in Tuesday night's friendly at Griffin Park.

• Nigeria boss fumes at Premiership pair

Goals from Laryea Kingson, Sulley Muntari, Junior Agogo and substitute Asamoah Frimpong clinched a comfortable win for Claude Le Roy's side - and prompted extravagant celebrations from the Ghanaian fans, dozens of whom charged on to the pitch after the second and third goals.

The Super Eagles earned a consolation through Taiwo Taye's 65th-minute penalty, but Ghana's attacking prowess proved too much for a Nigeria side in which Chelsea midfielder Mikel Jon Obi was surprisingly included.

Mikel was not expected to feature in the match, after Blues manager Jose Mourinho said he had picked up a thigh injury which would rule him out for two weeks. But the young playmaker played for the full match, while club-mate Michael Essien managed 87 minutes for Ghana.

There was no sign, however, of Obafemi Martins in the 18-man Nigeria squad - despite Newcastle saying the forward had been given permission to play.

In the 11th minute, Mikel played a superb through ball to John Utaka, whose close-range effort was blocked smartly by Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson.

Six minutes before that, Laryea Kingson almost gave Ghana the lead when his curling cross from the left was missed by team-mate Agogo but was palmed away by Vincent Enyeama in the nick of time.

In the seventh minute, Kingson fired just wide from 30 yards.

Mourinho would have been watching intently when Essien fell awkwardly under a Nigerian challenge in the ninth minute.

The Chelsea midfielder spent almost two minutes off the field with what appeared to be pain in his back, before he rejoined the action.

Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari both came close for Ghana, but the best chance of the half fell to Mikel - who put a free header over the bar from eight yards after he had been picked out by Utaka's right-wing cross.

Ghana went back on the attack, with Gyan blazing well wide after fine work from Essien and Stephen Appiah - and Iliasu Alhassan shooting over an open goal after Enyeama had flapped at a corner.

A minute before the break, Muntari headed John Mensah's long cross too close to Enyeama.

Ghana found the attacking edge their first-half play had lacked, scoring three times in the first 15 minutes of the second period.

Laryea Kingson gave them the lead with a low shot from 20 yards in the 50th minute, with Muntari adding a stunning second four minutes later - a searing drive into the roof of the net from an acute ankle.

Le Roy's men then made it three on the hour mark with a delightful goal, Gyan collecting Appiah's superb pass before crossing from the right for Agogo to volley in smartly at the near post.

Ghana briefly lost their cool five minutes later, though, Hans Adu Sarpei bringing down Utaka for a penalty which Taiwo calmly converted.

But the Black Stars soon recovered their composure - Appiah, Gyan and Essien combining to set up substitute Frimpong who guided in the fourth from 10 yards after 76 minutes.

Nigeria boss fumes at Premiership pair

Chelsea and Obafemi Martins came under fire from Nigeria coach Austin Eguavoen after Mikel Jon Obi played 90 minutes against Ghana and Martins did not feature in the 18-man squad.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho said on Saturday Mikel would be out of action for two weeks with a thigh injury, but the young midfielder played the full 90 minutes of tonight's friendly at Griffin Park, which Ghana won 4-1.

Newcastle cleared Martins to play yesterday, but he failed to show for the match and Eguavoen said he planned to take the matter 'to the highest authority'.

'Do I suspect that Chelsea were not being completely straight with me? I should think so,' he said.

'Everybody saw how Mikel played. He did not show any sign of injury so I am a little bit surprised that Chelsea should have said he was injured.

'Mikel never told me he was injured. I told him he was going to play 90 minutes, and he said he told me he would prefer to play the first half.

'But for Chelsea to say he was injured, something is wrong.

'Martins, to my great surprise, was not here. He was called up to the squad two weeks ago, and Newcastle allowed him to play.

'He is nowhere to be found. I should take it to the highest authority, because it is the highest level of indiscipline and disrespect.'

Ghana coach Claude Le Roy, meanwhile, was left to celebrate his 59th birthday in some style thanks to the superb attacking football his team produced after the interval.

Laryea Kingston, Sulley Muntari, Junior Agogo and substitute Asamoah Frimpong were all on target, with Nigeria's only goal coming through a 65th-minute penalty from Taiwo Taye.

Le Roy said: 'There is a natural motivation to play against the Super Eagles [Nigeria]. They are in the top 10 of the FIFA rankings for a reason.

'I took over after the World Cup and there has been an excellent spirit in the squad since then.

'We were lucky in the first half and the scoreline flattered us a bit. We had to change things on a tactical level and things improved greatly after the break.'

This was likely to have been Eguavoen's final match in charge of the Nigeria, with former Germany and Scotland boss Berti Vogts due to take over next month and Eguavoen staying on as his assistant.

Eguavoen added: 'Our boys had an attitude problem in this match. Ghana came at us really strongly in the second half, and we were far too relaxed in our approach.

'But we played well in the first half, and I do not really think the scoreline reflected the game.'