Thirty-three minutes into Tuesday's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, Ghana were two goals up at home and the evening looked settled. Fifty-seven minutes later they had lost 4-2. Gambia scored four times without reply after going two behind, and two of those goals came from the same man.
The Scorpions did not edge this. They took it away from Ghana in the space of about half an hour of football either side of half-time, and then defended the lead properly.
How Ghana threw it away
Ernest Nuamah converted a penalty in the 27th minute. Six minutes later Felix Afena-Gyan doubled it with a free-kick struck straight at goal. At that point Ghana had scored twice in six minutes and Gambia had not landed a blow.
Mohamed Badamosi answered from the penalty spot in the 37th, which changed the temperature of the stadium more than the scoreline. Five minutes after that, Omar Colley levelled with his right foot. Two-all at the interval, and Ghana went in having conceded twice in the time it took them to lose their nerve.
Ebrima Colley finishes it
The second half belonged to Gambia. Ebrima Colley put them in front in the 68th minute with another right-footed finish, and Ghana, who had spent the first half hour in comfortable control, now had to chase a team that had just discovered it could win.
Ghana pushed. They created late chances and did not take them. In the first minute of added time Gambia broke, and Ebrima Colley headed in his second of the night to make it 4-2. From two down to four scored, on the road, against a side that has reached the Afcon quarter-finals more often than almost anyone on the continent.
A bad night that was not an isolated one
Ghana were not the only heavyweight to come unstuck on Tuesday. Nigeria lost 3-0 in Bissau on the same evening, and Cape Verde were beaten 2-1 at home by Rwanda. Algeria were held 2-2 by Burundi. For a round of fixtures that looked routine on paper, the results have reshaped several groups at once.
For Gambia this is the kind of night that sustains a qualifying campaign for a year. For Ghana it is a home defeat in a group they will have assumed was theirs to control, and the manner of it — leading by two, losing by two — is the part that will be replayed. Nobody loses a two-goal lead at home by accident.
Match facts: Ghana 2-4 Gambia, 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying, Group C, Tuesday 29 September 2026. Goals: Nuamah 27 (penalty), Afena-Gyan 33 (free-kick); Badamosi 37 (penalty), Omar Colley 42, Ebrima Colley 68, Ebrima Colley 90+1 (header). Half-time 2-2. Elsewhere in Group C on the same night, Somalia hosted Ivory Coast. Other upsets on the evening: Guinea-Bissau 3-0 Nigeria, Cape Verde 1-2 Rwanda, Burundi 2-2 Algeria.
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