Ivory Coast beat Ghana in a dramatic penalty shoot-out to win Africa Cup
Ghana’s hopes of winning the Africa Cup of Nations for the fifth time dissolved painfully in a drama of penalty shoot – out at the Stade de I’ Amite in Dakar.
In one of the longest and perhaps the most heart breaking tie – breaks in the history of the tournament after 120 minutes had failed to produce a goal, the Elephants of Ivory Coast went home with the giant Africa Unity Cup, thanks to their brilliant goalkeeper Alain Gouame who stopped Tony Baffoe’s 12th kick for Ghana to give the Ivorians 11-10 win on penalties and their first ever triumph in the Afcon.
But perhaps this wasn’t destined to be Ghana’s day. A combination of unfortunate circumstances had made sure of that for the final.
The Stars had come thus far in the competition because they had one player whom everyone agreed as the biggest influence on the tournament as a whole and particularly on Ghana’s fortunes.
Rarely does a player dominates a tournament like the way Abedi Ayew ‘Pele’ stood out above everybody else in Senegal 92. He reminded one of the original Pele at the 1970 Fifa World Cup and Diego Maradona in 1986 World Cup both coincidentally in Mexico.
But unlike the two super stars, Abedi was to be robbed of the ultimate glory that should have been rightly his – playing in the final as usual leading his team to victory.
Tunisian referee Neji Touini’s unwarranted yellow card in the semifinal match against Nigeria made sure Ghana did not play with their best player and robbed the final of this great artiste whose presence would surely have lifted it above the ordinary kick -about that the very ultimate of what was generally regarded as contest of a high value in standards and entertainment.
The Ivorians can also claim that they were also affected by the absence of their best player Youssouf Fofana. But the Stars were further handicapped by injury to Ali Ibrahim which posed further problems for the Ghanaian technical team as it did weaken the midfield and attack considerably.
All night long during the final between the two West African neighbours, the question people kept asking was: If Abedi was around would the Stars had found the going so tough and the final struggle so much to come alive?
The final suffered in standards without Pele, but Ghana was the bigger loser in the end. This is not to suggest that the Stars did not work hard enough but someone said before the match Ghana is made up of a great artiste and good artisans. Without the artiste the artisans worked hard but the golden touch was sorely missed.
No one at the almost filled stadium which was graced by the presence of the Senegalese President Abdul Diouf and some dignitaries from all over the world including a PNDC member and some Secretaries; could deny that in the absence of Abedi, Tony Yeboah tried to lead the stars.
Nor can anybody deny goalkeeper Edward Ansah glory that must be his for some excellent, timely saves which had Ghana hanging on in the 120 minutes of play and even in the penalty shoot-out when he made one save.
After an early pressure, the Stars should have gone ahead in the fifth minute after Sarfo Gyamfi’s long pass found Tony Yeboah. The Eintracht Frankfurt striker lobbed the ball over an advancing Alain Gouame. Prince Polley however blasted a left-footer wide with an empty net before him.
This let off might have warned the Ivoirians to redouble their effort and when they did, the Stars defence and more particularly libero and skipper Tony Baffoe’s weakness as a tackler was to be exposed time and again by Ivorian strikers Abdoulaye Traore and Joel Tieh.
It was on the first quarter of an hour however that the Elephants posed their first danger. A long throw – in saw shortish Traore out-jump Baffoe but Ansah saved the ball on the line.
In a light game in which both sides struggled to make its befitting of the occasion, the hearts of Ghanaians in the crowd must have missed a beat in the 22nd minute.
This was when Ampeah gave a back pass meant for Baffoe. The libero wasn’t fast enough and Donald Sie, the Ivorian winger pounced on it but his cross was well covered by goalkeeper Ansah.
As the Elephants romped forward Traore rounded Baffoe but Emmanuel Armah was around to head the ball to corner.
As the tension rose with the exchanges on the field, the Ivorian Technical Director Paul Gaugings aroused no little storm as he went to the match commissioner’s table to protest the decision to allow Abedi to share the table.
Senegalese referee Sene Badara gave the official the only red card of the match as he angrily argued that the Ghanaian super star who had been given a standing ovation when he entered the stadium should not be given the red carpet treatment.
When play resumed as Ivorian official had escorted out, the referee’s yellow card came out to penalise Joel Tiehe for deliberately hacking down Stanley Abroah in midfield in the 39th minute.
Two minutes later later Ghana’s Armah was to follow the Ivorian into the refee’s book.
If the first half was tough and uncompromising, the second half was to see even more frustrating tactics. Just under one minute in the session, Nii Odartey Lamptey was given a big kick behind the Ivorian goal area. Otto Pfister decided to give Richard Naawu his first taste of the championship five minutes into the second half and he pulled out Sarfo Gyamfi who had worked really hard in the first half.
The speedy striker was given a rough welcome as he fell heavily as he tried to beat Maguy Serge in the 52nd minute. And in seven minutes later substitute Moussa Traore hit the cross bar with Ansah clearly beaten but Ampeah scrambled the ball to corner.
Tony Yeboah began to assert himself. In the 61st minute, he left his marker gracefully but his cross was somehow missed by Prince Polley who failed rather badly to make contact with the ball.
Then in the 67th minute, Isaac Asare did well to control a ball, centered well to put Naawu through. But the substitute tried to lob the ball before heading and clashed with the Ivorian goalie. Both players received treatment on the field.
The best effort in this half had to wait a minute from full time but Tony Yeboah’s great run down the left couldn’t produce the goal that would have prevented the game going into extra time as his pile – driver grazed the post. The extra time did not produce much of action as tiredness appeared to have set in.
The Ivoirians, who three days earlier had gone through a 120 minute semi-final l, however, nearly had the last laugh a minute from the end of extra time.
Joel Tiehe pounced on a loose ball after it bounced of a defender. Ansah came out to confront him and in a tense moment, the goalie managed to stop him and send the game into penalties.
In the first round of the shoot – out both sides missed a kick each, with Baffoe, Odartey, Naawu, Tony Yeboah scoring while Isaac Asare shot wide. Ansah saved Joel Tiehi’s kick.
Then in the sudden dead, Armah, Aborah, Ampeah, Prince Opoku and Edward Ansah netted just as the Ivorians did.
In the reverse round, Aka Kouame scored while Baffoe’s kick was stopped by Gouamene who left Dakar with the best record of all goalkeepers – he finished the tournament without conceding a single goal.
Penalty shoot-out: Aka 1- 0, Baffoe 1- 1;
Hobou 2- 1, Lamptey 2- 2;
Sekana 3- 2, Naawu 3- 3;
M. Traoré 4- 3, Asara (missed) 4- 3;
Tiéhi (missed) 4- 3, Yeboah 4- 4;
Gadji-Cel 5- 4, Mensah 5- 5;
Kouadio 6- 5, Armah 6- 6;
Aboua 7- 6, Abroah 7- 7;
Maguy 8- 7, Ampeah 8- 8;
Sie 9- 8, Opuko 9- 9;
Gouamené 10- 9,Ansah 10-10;
Aka 11-10,Baffoe (saved) 11-10.
Other AFCON fixtures on this day
2002 Group: Burkina Faso 1-2 Morocco
2002 Group: DR Congo 0-0 Togo
2002 Group: Senegal 1-0 Zambia
2004 Group: Senegal 0-0 Burkina Faso
2004 Group: Kenya 1-3 Mali
2006 Group: Zambia 1-2 Guinea
2006 Group: Tunisia 2-0 South Africa
2008 Group: Cameroon 5-1 Zanbia
2008 Group: Egypt 3-0 Sudan
2012 Group: Sudan 2-2 Angola
2012 Group: Ivory Coast 2-0 Burkina Faso
2013 Group: Ivory Coast 3-0 Tunisia
2013 Group: Togo 2-0 Algeria
2015 Group: Cape Verde 0-0 Zambia
2015 Group: DR Congo 1-1 Tunusia
By: George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
