Well, if Ghana can beat Nigeria with 10 men that means they can actually beat any team on the continent including the ‘mighty’ Ivory Coast. The ‘Elephants’ of Ivory Coast came into the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations as pre-tournament favorites and have very much so lived up to that billing. After four consecutive massive wins including the 5-0 mauling of ‘toothless’ Guinea in the quarterfinal on Sunday, Gerard Gili’s side look unstoppable in many ways than one. But make no mistake; until they face and, or possibly see of the hosts (Ghana) and that can only happen in the final, Didier Drogba and co know they certainly still have some hard on their hands if they are going to win their second African title. Ghana, even with 10 men with half an hour to play were still too hard a nut to crack for the Nigerians, the top African football country and 19th in the world! It was the first victory for the ‘Black Stars’ over their traditional rivals in competitive match in 16 years and only the second in CAN history, but even then, it was the by far the sweetest (victory) the Ghanaians would settle for by any stretch of imagination. Before Sunday, Nigeria had never lost a quarterfinal match in Africa Cup of Nations history but when it happened in couldn’t come in a more excruciating manner than to the hands of their bitterest rivals who, to makes things even worse played the last 30 minutes with 10 men. Nigeria took the lead against the run of play when Yakubu converted a 34th minute penalty but Ghana never stopped believing in themselves and at the stroke of half time were back on level terms through an expertly taken Michael Essien header. Stand-in captain John Mensah was shown a straight red for a challenge on Osaze Odemwingie but Junior Agogo proved to be hero for the 22 million Ghanaians with a deserved late winner. I can’t ever remember a team with so many good players performing so poorly in an international tournament, so it’s looking ominous for Berti Vogts. Then in the second game of the evening, and as expected, Ivory Coast did little work of Guinea who, without their inspirational skipper Pascal Feindouno who was handed a two-match ban (by CAF) for violent conduct in the group game against Morocco in which he scored a brace and set up another. When on the field, every ball goes through the St. Etienne striker and it was evident, in his absence, how Guinea are the sort of one-man team people talk about. And as a result, Ivory Coast put five past them with Chelsea striker Solomon Kalou helping himself to a brace, Drogba, Abdul Keita and Barkary Kone added one apiece. It was the most one-sided quarterfinal game I have ever watched. NOTE: Allow me to express my sincere regret about the misrepresentation that occurred in my column On the Spot of Sunday, February 3, titled ‘Ghana all the way, where I wrote that Ghana would meet Ivory Coast in the semifinal The truth is, Ghana will meet the winner between Cameroon and Tunisia while Ivory Coast will take on whoever wins between Egypt and Angola Tunisia.Ends
