Ghana maintained its position as the 6th best nation in the world and best in Africa in amputee football in spite of a 0-2 loss to England in a play-off at the 31st Amputee Football World Cup in Kaliningrad, Russia. A visibly demoralized Black Challenge squad, apparently affected by their inability to make it to the semi finals, managed to hold the British throughout the first half of the match, stopping them from scoring till the half came to an end. The second half was characterized by some drizzles that made the weather chilling but that did not deter the team from continuing to hold their opponents who are one of the best in Europe. However, some lapses, coupled with some fouls on the blind side of the referees, led to two goals that sealed the game for the Europeans. The scorer of one of the goals used the crutches to trap the ball before scoring but this happened at the blind side of the referee. The second goal followed with about five minutes to go and the Ghanaians knew at that moment that it was all over. In the remaining minutes, the game degenerated into rough tackles with two players, one from each side, earning a yellow card from one of the referees. Though the Black Challenge failed to make it to the semis, they take consolation in the fact that they maintained their position as the 6th best in the world and still the best in Africa. The semi finalists, Uzbekistan, Russia, Turkey and Argentina, were the same countries that made it to the same stage at the last world cup in Argentina in 2010. Hosts, Russia play defending champions Uzbekistan in the finals as the latter seek to take the cup for keeps after winning the last two competitions in Turkey and Argentina in 2008 and 2010 respectively. Uzbekistan beat Argentina 4-0 whilst Russia disposed off Turkey 3-0 in the semis, setting the stage for the finals on Sunday. In another development, Mr. Francis Adjetey Sowah, President of the Ghana Amputee Football Federation (GAFF) and the Amputee Football Federation of Africa (AFFA) could not win the election for the position of the 2nd Vice President of the World Amputee Football Federation (WAFF) at the congress held alongside the competition. Mr. Sowah, who lost to his Japanese counterpart, is being considered for a position on one of the committees of the Federation.