Wednesday, April 06, 2011

The Bochum Disaster

Taken from: http://discussions.ghanaweb.com/viewtopic.php?t=111633&sid=c8cb1fc3aacc06cbef051326d9d6aec4

and

http://de.footbo.com/Teams/Ghana/History

The Bochum Disaster: 14th April 1993

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWIcxPMD7sw

On the night of 14 April 1993, Ghana’s senior National Team played then 1990 FIFA World Cup defending Champions Germany away at the Ruhrstadion, Bochum, Germany in an International friendly match. Parading then 3-time African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele, back-to-back German Bundesliga Goal-king Anthony Yeboah among others, Ghana shocked the World Champions by taking the lead through Prince Polley in the 44th min., in front of 37,000 home fans. They took the 1-0 lead over Germany into half-time. Germany stormed back in the 2nd half and scored 3 quick goals in one minute - the 70th minute alone! - through Ulf Kirsten 70', Stefan Effenberg 70', Jürgen Klinsmann 70'. With the Ghanaian team in disarray, the World Champions added 3 more goals in the 82’, 86‘, and 88’, for a final score of 1-6.

This match is etched in Ghana’s football history as the worst defeat. It is believed that after the first half of this match the Ghanaian team had a disagreement over the sharing of the match bonus, and this is considered to have led to the downfall of the team in the match.

TEAM SHEET
Edward Ansah,
Tony Baffoe,
Stephen Frimpong Manso (Stanley Arboah 66'),
Emmanuel Armah,
Ali Ibrahim (Yaw Preko 81'),
Isaac Asare,
Abedi 'Pelé' Ayew
Yaw Acheampong,
Charles Akonnor (Sam Adjei 52'),
Anthony Yeboah,
Prince Polley Opoku.

1 comment:

ImageNations said...

I remember this very well, though I was very young. In the end it speaks volumes. Though Ghana recorded its worst defeat on that day, the players' names would forever be linked to it. Do what you must do and do it well.