Ghana beat Tunisia 2-1 to meet   Zambia in semi-finals
GHANA are through to the semi finals of the African Cup of Nations after creeping past Tunisia 2-1 in extra time at the Stade de Franceville. It was a tight and often cynical match, and the winning goal came courtesy of an awful error from Tunisia goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi, gifting the goal to Andre Ayew.
Ghana opened the scoring early on through John Mensah, but Tunisia levelled when Saber Khelifa headed in a Zouhaier Dhoauadi cross shortly before half time. It means Ghana will meet Zambia in the semi-finals.
The goal came courtesy of Ghana’s first corner of the match after just 10 minutes and it was so simple for Mensah as a flick on at the near post left him with the easy task of heading into the far corner.
The Black Stars again went close from a corner a few minutes later as another flick on at the near post sailed just wide. Ghana were on top at this point, but Tunisia slowly clawed their way back into it.
Five minutes before half time and Tunisia really were back in it. Dhaouadi crossed from the right and Khelifa got above the defensively suspect Samuel Inkoom to head down firmly into the bottom corner from eight yards.
The second half was much like the first, with neither team committing enough players forward or playing at a quick enough pace. Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu got on the end of an inswinging cross from Kwadwo Asamoah, but could only head into the arms of Mathlouthi on the hour.
It was Asamoah Gyan though who had the best chance to grab the winner. Asamoah again played a lovely ball over the defence and on the volley Gyan pushed the ball towards the far corner, but Mathlouthi plunged to his right to pull off an excellent save.
The clincher came 11 minutes into extra time and you had to feel so sorry for Mathlouthi, who had had an excellent tournament up to that point.
He dropped a routine cross at his back post and left the ball perfectly for Ayew, who still had some work to do as the angle was tight, but he made no mistake.
Play became disjointed from then on in, with both teams losing their heads. Aymen Abdennour got a straight red for an elbow to Ayew’s face early in the second half of extra time, with players from both sides continuing to hack each other down.
It all played into the hands of Ghana, who were looking for any opportunity to waste time. Tunisia struggled to get the ball into the box and never created any clear cut opportunities as time quickly drifted away. (Eurosport)