Libya on Saturday emerged the champions of the 2014 edition of Orange African Nations Championships (CHAN), defeating Ghana 4-3 on penalties.
Both teams had played goalless for 120 minutes before no fewer than 17, 000 crowd in Cape Town, South Africa.
Interestingly, the penalty shoot-out did not end at the first round of five kicks. However, luck ran against the Black stars of Ghana, when Joshua Tijani missed his kick after Libya’s Ahmed El Trbi had scored the sixth penalty.
The final match was watched by FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who was special guest of CAF President Isa Hayatou.
Earlier, the Super Eagles of Nigerian had defeated their Zimbabwean counterparts 1-0 to place third.
At the post-match press conference, Coach Stephen Keshi had this to say, “I am so happy with the boys over these three weeks.
“I will call it so, they have grown in stature, and they are beginning to understand what I want and the mentality to express the game the way I want.
“I am happy for that in spite of the fact that they wanted to play in the final and did not get there but they still showed their mental strength against the Zimbabweans.
“The major goal for me in this tournament was to expose these players and see if I can draft a couple of them into my World Cup squad in five months time”.
