Saturday, February 7, 2015
AFCON'15: Its a West African Final Again as Ghana faces Cote D'ivoire
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Ghana will be out to end their 33-year wait for a fifth continental title when they face Ivory Coast in the final of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Bata, Equatorial Guinea on Sunday.
The Black Stars defeated hosts Equatorial Guinea 3-0 in Thursday's semifinal, which was marred by crowd violence to set up a dream final against Ivory Coast. The Elephants beat DR Congo 3-1 in the first semifinal on Wednesday to secure a place in the final for the third time in the last nine years.
Ghana won the tournament in 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982, while Ivory Coast have won the title only once – in Senegal in 1992 – incidentally at the Blacks Stars' expense.
The star-studded Elephants led by Didier Drogba were beaten by Egypt on penalties in the final of the 2006 edition hosted by the North Africans. They also lost on penalties to Zambia in the final of the tournament co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012.
Ghana, who lost 1-0 to Egypt in the final of the 2010 AFCON in Angola, placed fourth in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Ghana coach Avram Grant said on Friday that the Black Stars would win in Bata on Sunday.
"It is good to be in the final. Before the tournament, nobody gave us a chance. Everyone talked about the other teams. Now we are in the final and we want to win," the former Chelsea manager told AFP.
Meanwhile, coach Florent Ibenge says DR Congo do not have "the slightest fear" about playing at the Malabo Stadium where crowd violence marred an Africa Cup of Nations semi-final, AFP reports.
The Congolese are scheduled to face hosts Equatorial Guinea Saturday at the 15,000-capacity Estadio de Malabo in a third-place play-off.
Ibenge said, "We are only thinking about football and winning the game.
"We know things happen in football, but these incidents are tiny in relation to the number of games staged around the world."
The Black Stars defeated hosts Equatorial Guinea 3-0 in Thursday's semifinal, which was marred by crowd violence to set up a dream final against Ivory Coast. The Elephants beat DR Congo 3-1 in the first semifinal on Wednesday to secure a place in the final for the third time in the last nine years.
Ghana won the tournament in 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982, while Ivory Coast have won the title only once – in Senegal in 1992 – incidentally at the Blacks Stars' expense.
The star-studded Elephants led by Didier Drogba were beaten by Egypt on penalties in the final of the 2006 edition hosted by the North Africans. They also lost on penalties to Zambia in the final of the tournament co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012.
Ghana, who lost 1-0 to Egypt in the final of the 2010 AFCON in Angola, placed fourth in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Ghana coach Avram Grant said on Friday that the Black Stars would win in Bata on Sunday.
"It is good to be in the final. Before the tournament, nobody gave us a chance. Everyone talked about the other teams. Now we are in the final and we want to win," the former Chelsea manager told AFP.
Meanwhile, coach Florent Ibenge says DR Congo do not have "the slightest fear" about playing at the Malabo Stadium where crowd violence marred an Africa Cup of Nations semi-final, AFP reports.
The Congolese are scheduled to face hosts Equatorial Guinea Saturday at the 15,000-capacity Estadio de Malabo in a third-place play-off.
Ibenge said, "We are only thinking about football and winning the game.
"We know things happen in football, but these incidents are tiny in relation to the number of games staged around the world."
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