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March 31, 2011

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Asamoah leaves it late as Ghana denies England

ASAMOAH Gyan scored a superb last-minute equalizer to earn Ghana a richly-deserved 1-1 draw with a second-string England in an all-action friendly at Wembley on Tuesday.

Ghana's 20,000 fans, who had helped create a fantastic atmosphere, were sent absolutely delirious when Gyan's goal cancelled out Andy Carroll's late first-half strike for Fabio Capello's much-changed England side.

Carroll, who moved from Newcastle United to Liverpool for 35 million pounds (US$55.94 million) in January but has hardly played because of injury, produced a killer finish with a low left-foot bullet after 43 minutes for his first England goal on his second appearance.

But Gyan, who plays his club football in England with Sunderland, produced a brilliant finish as the match moved into injury time, jinking his way into space in the box, selling Joleon Lescott a dummy, then finishing with a precise left-foot shot that gave goalkeeper Joe Hart no chance.

Confidence

"It was a fantastic game," England coach Fabio Capello said. "I am happy because Ghana didn't play it like a friendly. I'm happy with the performance. The players played without fear and with confidence," the Italian said.

Capello made seven changes from the team that beat Wales 2-0 in a Euro 2012 qualifier on Saturday, and while there was some criticism of his selection before the match, his 4-3-3 formation acquitted itself well.

In Paris, France missed out on a seventh consecutive win when it was held to a 0-0 draw by Croatia in a friendly when Franck Ribery was booed in his first home game since the World Cup fiasco.

Elsewhere, Costa Rica ground out a disappointing 0-0 draw in a home friendly against Argentina, the visitors weakened by the late withdrawal of talismanic striker Lionel Messi.

Australia scored two goals in four second-half minutes to rally and beat a much-changed Germany side 2-1.

World Cup semifinalist Uruguay scored three times in the first half to win 3-1 at Ireland, and Italy won 2-0 at European Championship co-host Ukraine.

 

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