It's Zambia!

 Zambia were in the early hours of Monday crowned African football champions after beating pre-tournament favorites Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties at the Angondje stadium in Libreville, Gabon.

              Penality scoreline


Zambia: Stoppila Sunzu scores (8-7)


Ivory Coast: Gervinho misses  (7-7)


Zambia: Rainford shoots over the bar (7-7)


Ivory Coast: Kolo Toure misses  (7-7)


Zambia: Chisamba Lungu scores (7-7)


Ivory Coast: Didier Ya Konan scores (7-6)


Zambia: Nathan Sinkala scores (6-6)


Ivory Coast: Siaka Tiene scores (6-5)


Zambia: Kennedy Mweene scores (5-5)


Ivory Coast: Drogba scores (5-4)


Zambia: Felix Katongo scores (4-4)
Ivory Coast: Max Gradel scores (4-3)


Zambia: Isaac Chansa scores (3-3)


Ivory Coast: Souleymane Bamba (3-2)


Zambia: Emmanuel Mayuka scores (2-2)


Ivory Coast: Wilfried Boni scores (2-1)


Zambia: Chris Katongo scores (1-1)


Ivory Coast: Cheick Tiote scores (1-0)



The final had to be decided by penalties after a 120 minute match ended in a stalemate.



After 14 kicks were converted, Kolo Toure and Gervinho failed to find the target for the Elephants as Zambia's Rainford Kalaba also blazed his penalty over the bar.

 But Stoppila Sunzu found the top corner to complete an amazing victory.

 

Zambia won the cup for the first time in their history in what many believed was a befitting honour for 25 national team players and officials who died in plane crush in 1993 in Gabon.



In the first minutes of the game Zambia were the first to threaten through a close range Nathan Sinkala strike that drew an excellent reaction save from Boubacar Barry.

 The chance set the tone for what followed, clearly indicating that that the Zambians were hardly overawed by the occasion and prepared to cause problems for their star-studded opponents.



After 11 minutes Zambia suffered a setback after their solid defender in the tournament Joseph Musonda went out injured.



In the second half highly fancied Ivory Coast could have taken the lead through a spot kick, but captain Didier Drogba missed his second penalty of the tournament, blasting his effort over Kennedy Mweene's crossbar.



The extra time provided much drama but no goals and it was time for a marathon penalty kick session in which Kolo Toure missed first and looked to have eliminated his team.

 Rainford Kalaba handed the Elephants an improbable lifeline that Gervinho wasted.

Sunzu stepped forward for Zambia and proved much less merciful that his prior teammate, burying his shot confidently to offer his country their first continental title and washing away the final failures of 1974 and 1994.



In the run up to the final, in their previous five games in the tournament, Zambia won four and drew once while Ivory  Coast  won all the five and did not concede any goals. 

The dramatic penalty shoot-out revived memories of their 2006 penalty shoot-out defeat to Egypt in Cairo.



The Elephants had come to the 2012 edition with high hopes of atoning for further failures in 2008 and 2010.