African Cup of Nations: Afcon's tough semi finals ahead

By The Africa Report

in: Sports

Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) co-hosts Equatorial Guinea and Gabon both crushed out of the tournament at the weekend in contrasting fashion at the quarter final stage.

Equatorial Guinea vs Ivory Coast: On Saturday, Equatorial Guinea lost to tournament favourites Ivory Coast in a convincing 3 nil drubbing, with Didier Drogba grabbing two goals and Yaya Toure finishing the game off with a top quality free kick to make it 3-0.

Early on Drogba had missed a penalty.

The Ivory Coast Elephants are yet to concede a goal in the tournament and will be feeling confident after sending out an impressive message to next opponents Mali on Wednesday.

Zambia vs Sudan: The southern African team, Zambia outclassed Sudan 3-0 in the first quarter-final match of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Bata, Equatorial Guinea on Saturday to book a place for the semi finals. This is the first time Zambia have reached the Afcon semi-finals since 1996 in South Africa.

Stophila Sunzu, Christopher Katongo and James Chamanga scored the goals that earned the Chipolopolo their victory.

After failing at the quarter-final in 2010 via penalty kicks to Nigeria, Zambia will go forward with full confidence that they can win the tournament. On Wednesday, they take on Ghana in the semi-finals.

Mali vs Gabon: Mali progressed to the semi-finals of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations by defeating co-hosts Gabon 5-4 on penalties. Both sides were deadlocked 1-1 after extra time.

Gabon looked set to win the game as they took a one nil lead but a late Cheick Diabate goal gave Mali hope after Eric Mouloungui had opened the scoring.

During penalty kicks, Gabon's best player Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had his attempt saved by goalkeeper Soumbeyla Diakite. Mali now play Ivory Coast in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

Ghana vs Tunisia: A blunder by Tunisian goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi gifted Andre Ayew a simple winner on Sunday evening during the last quarter-finals of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Ghana were first off the mark when John Mensah met Emmanuel Badu's corner on 10 minutes to give his team an early lead. Tunisia equalised later in the game forcing extra time.

A dream start to extra-time was wiped away for the Tunisians when Issam Jemaa's goal was ruled offside. After saving his team on more than one occasion Tunisian goalkeeper made a nightmare blunder to allow Ayew to put the Black Stars on top.

Tunisia were to finish with 10 men after a player was expelled for violent conduct and Ghana held firm, booking a semi-finals encounter with Zambia.