Ghana’s Black Stars reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations for a third consecutive time after beating Ivory Coast 4-3 in their semi-final match played in Asmara, Ethiopia.
The victory for the Black Stars who were making a strong, historic bid to win the trophy for keeps was a hard fought affair which gave their fans both in Asmara and at home a lot of heartaches.
Playing a special well planned game, the Black Stars swept into an early two – goal lead, then relaxed for their opponents to catch up.
At one stage however, they nearly overdid things and to the disappointment and frustrations of their Asmara fans who were said have special affection for the Stars, Ivory Coast took the lead.
MATCH WINNER
In the end Ghana’s superior play earned them the match – winner through nimble- dribbler, Osei Kofi. And Ghana had got the chance to make history by being the first nation to win the the Afcon trophy thrice in succession.
The match started with the Black Stars on top and within the first eight minutes centre -forward Jones Atuquayefio and inside right Odoi, had hit the net to put them in a 2-0 lead.
It seemed this was all the champions needed to earn the final ticket. They relaxed, apparently to regulate their energy in the rarefied atmosphere of Ethiopia. Ivory Coast saw this as their chance and by the 20th minute had scored their first goal through a penalty.
A defensive blunder soon after nearly gave the Ivory Coast the equaliser but goalkeeper Naawu made a brilliant save of the situation.
The Ivory Coast were however, to have their chance still and four minutes after resumption, they utilised another defensive blunder to level things up.
This seemed to have given the Ivory Coast an added confidence and two minutes later, they connected home a corner kick to take the lead.
Things looked really grim for the Stars after this, but urged on by the fact that champions die hard, they fought on doggedly.
Their efforts were rewarded when skipper Mfum finished off a brilliant move initiated by Osei Kofi to give Ghana the equaliser.
Play after this was fairly balanced until Osei Kofi got Ghana the goal which qualified them to the final.
Ghana: John Naawu, Ben Kusi, Franklin Crentsil, John Eshun, Addo Odametey, Ibrahim Sunday, Osei Kofi, Frank Odoi, Jones Atuquayefio, Wilberforce Mfum (C), Malik Jabir
Match Fact: Mfum was 31 years, 4 months, 22 days when he scored in the match making him the oldest Ghanaian to score at the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Other AFCON fixtures on 18 January
1968 Semifinals: Ethiopia 2-3 Congo-Kinshasa
1992 Quarter – finals: Nigeria 1-0 Zaire
1992 Quarter – finals: Cameroon 1-0 Senegal
1996 Group: Zaire 0-2 Gabon
1996 Group: Ghana 2-1 Tunisia
2002 Opening match: Mali 1-1 Liberia
2010 Group: Burkina Faso 0-1 Ghana
2013 Opening match: South Africa 0-0 Cape Verde
2013 Group: Angola 0-0 Morocco
2015 Group: Ghana 1-2 Senegal
2015 Group: Algeria 3-1 South Africa
2017 Group: Algeria 1-2 Tunisia
2017 Group: Senegal 2-0 Zimbabwe
By: George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
