The Black Stars of Ghana earlier this morning were pipped by The Tricolor of Mexico in Houston in an international friendly.

A 34th minute strike by Elias Hernandez from the spot helped the Mexicans to the victory at the NRG Stadium after the referee awarded them what was clearly a controversial penalty.

Jesus Gerrardo easily dived in the Ghana box after trying to outwit John Boye but the referee chose to award a penalty instead of penalizing the player for diving.

Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah gave several fringes players the chance to impress before the 37,617 fans who watched the game at the stadium.

The Black Stars fluffed five scoring chances with Frank Acheampong, Majeed Waris and Rahpael Dwamena all having opportunities of drawing the West Africans level.