Ghana have moved closer to reaching the finals of the 16th African Youth Championship in 2009 after advancing past Angola on Sunday to the final round qualifiers.

Faced with some controversial refereeing decisions, the Black Satellites lost 1-0 to Angola in the south-western Namibe Province but still go through to the next stage of the qualifying campaign on a 5-2 aggregate scoreline.

Ghana will now play Gambia in the last round of qualifiers scheduled for September. Gambia managed to reach the final round after beating Mauritania 4-1 on goal aggregate.

The route to the final round was started at home with Ghana picking a deserved 5-1 in Accra a fortnight ago in the first leg.

The Black Satellites came from a goal down to deservedly win the first leg game with goals from Rabiu Mohammed, Sadick Adams, Abdul Ganiyu and a brace by captain, Ransford Osei.

Africa’s qualifying series has now been narrowed down to 14 sides after the weekend’s round of qualifiers.

Seven teams would proceed on to qualify over a two-leg fixture for the Championship to be hosted by Rwanda in 2009.

The Championship begins from January 18 to February 1, 2009.