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Against Namibia, the hosts dominated throughout the first half, but a capacity crowd of 40,000 at the Ohene Djan stadium saw Junior Agogo and Asamoah Gyan woefully miss a number of excellent chances.

 It was only in the 41st minute that the Black Stars finally managed to break down their opponents' spirited defence. Spanish- based Quincy Owusu-Abeyie played a ball into the middle from the left, where Agogo was on hand to score from close range.

 To their credit, Namibia did not sit back in the second half and tried their best to go forward. Brian Brendell came close in the 66th minute but pulled his shot wide.

 Ghanian midfielder Laryea Kingston was booked in the second half and will now miss his team's final group match against Morocco after picking up a second yellow card.

 German-based Namibian Colin Benjamin said that they had played much better than in their first game.

 "If anybody had told me before the game that we would lose 1-0, I would have been happy," he said. "But I think we created enough chances, and now I am disappointed that we did not manage a draw."

   Benjamin had said before the game that he would be flying back to Germany to return to SV Hamburg.

 "Had we been hammered again, I would certainly have flown," he said. "Now I will speak to the coach and then decide."

   Ghana coach Claude Le Roy said that he was happy with his side's performance.

 "Football is played on the pitch, and we created our chances there," he said. "Of course, I would have liked to have scored more goals, but I am satisfied with the number of chances we created."

   In the earlier match, Guinea captain Pascal Feindounou set up his side's 3-2 victory with two goals but was red-carded for kicking out at an opponent.

 The St Etienne midfielder opened the scoring for Guinea in the 10th minute with an outrageous free-kick over the wall and past a bewildered Khalid Fouhami in goal for Morocco.

 Just two minutes later, Morocco nearly equalized through Youssef Hadji, whose shot with the outside of the boot was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Kemeko Camara.

 The match came to life in the second half with an exciting, eight- minute spell that saw three goals and a red card.

 Feindouno set up Ismael Bangoura in the 58th minute to double Guinea's score, but Morocco pulled one back within seconds of the restart.

 Hadji played the ball to substitute Hicham Aboucherouane, who found himself with acres of space in front of him, and as he was not being attacked, he unleashed a powerful shot that gave Camara no chance.

 Three minutes later, Guinea again had their two-goal lead as Feindounou scored from the penalty spot after Michael Basser pulled down Souleymane Youla in the area.

 Feindounou received his marching orders in the 66th minute, when South African referee Jerome Damon saw him kicking out at Elamin Erbate, who made the most of it and rather theatrically fell to the ground.

 The 26-year-old said he accepted his red card.

 "Even though I was provoked and he kicked me first, I should not have retaliated," Feindounou said. "I am sure that we will have the players to replace me."

   In the last minute, Abdeslam Ouaddou pulled back another for the North Africans, but it was too little, too late, as they ran out of time to snatch an equalizer.

 Moroccan captain Youssef Safri complained that the referee had spoilt the game.

 "He was against us. At the first goal, the free-kick should have first been awarded to us, and the penalty was not in the area," Safri said.

 "But I think we still have a chance. We have to beat Ghana, but that is not impossible. It will be difficult, but we have to believe in ourselves."

   The victory sees Guinea back in contention for a place in the quarter-finals after losing their opening game to hosts Ghana 2-1.

 Ghana top the group with six points from Morocco and Guinea, who both have three.

By Peter Auf der Heyde, dpa