Underdogs Zambia reached the finals of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON/CAN) after making light weight work of Ghana on Wednesday night. Zambia will play against Ivory Coast in the final.
Zambia- The Chipolopos
Coach- Herve Renard
Best performance in ACN/CAN- Runners-Up n 1974 and 1994
Strengths- Mweene, Kalaba, Musundo, Chris and Felix Katongo have had previous experience in the competition, attacking style of play
Weaknesses- Few players play in Europe; tensions between the government and the Football Association of Zambia
Cote d'Ivoire- The Elephants
Coach- Francois Zahoui (Cote d'Ivoire)
Best performance in ACN/CAN- Winners in 1992
Strengths- Some of the forwards are the best in the world, a successful year in 2011
Weaknesses- Tensions between some of the top players; despite currently having good players they are yet to win
Chipolopolo (Copper bullets) beat the Black Stars 1-0 to book a date with favourites Ivory Coast in Sunday's final.
The Ivorians beat Mali by a similar score line in a match that was played later.
But it was Zambia's win over the four-times champions, which came courtesy of an 80th minute wonder strike by substitute Emmanuel Mayuka, that has become talk of the tournament being jointly hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Mayuka is the only member of the Zambian squad plying his trade in Europe.
Earlier in the game Asamoah Gyan, who has three goals to his name denied his team a lead after his 8th minute penalty was saved by Kennedy Mweene.
In the closing stages of the game Ghana searched in vain for an equaliser as Zambia ensured they reached the AFCON finals for the first time since 1994.
The Black Stars will now have to seek solace in Saturday's third-place play-off in Malabo.
Ghana finished the game with 10 men after Derek Boateng was sent off.
The tournament is an emotional roller coaster for Chipolopolo with memories of the plane crash that claimed the entire Zambian squad off the coast 19 years ago.
It is the Sunday clash with Ivory Coast in Gabon that would further inspire the Zambians to give their all to honour the 25 players and officials who died in the plane crash.
Ivory Coast prevailed over Mali through another brilliantly worked out individual first half goal by Gervinho. As expected the opening stages were very physical and accounted for several set pieces and yellow cards.
Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba could have grabbed the opener after five minutes but his header went slightly off the mark.
In the closing stages of the first half, Gervinho won possession in his own half, ran half the length of the pitch before beating Mali keeper Diakite.
In the second half Mali had several goal scoring chances but their opponents' defence which has not conceded a goal was too strong for them and that was an unenviable task.
But the Ivorians held firm to march on while Mali made an honorable exit after a single final appearance since 1972.
The Sunday final appearance would be the first for the the Ivoirians since they were beaten by Egypt in Cairo in 2006. They are seeking their second continental title after a lone success 20 years ago.
