IVORY COAST FINALLY BECAME CHAMPIONS AGAIN

Ivory Coast has finally lifted the African Cup of Nations trophy, after beating Ghana 9 - 8 in the penalty shoot-outs in the final on Sunday in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

This is the second time that the country has won the trophy in their history. They have waited 23 years to acomplish such feat once again.

                               Ivory Coast are Afcon Champions

The match was goalless after the stoppage time. They played an extra 30 minutes but the game still did not produce any goals, hence the penalty.

Well the penalties were like riding a roller-coaster, at the initial stages Ghana scored their first two spot kicks while the Ivorians lost theirs.

But the uncertainty which the beautiful game is made of, showed up, and Ivory Coast made amends, by levelling the score as Ghana stumbled with their shots.

After the other players had taken their penalties, it came down to the two goalkeepers. By this time the scoreline was 8 - 8.

The Ghanaian goalkeeper, Brimah Razak's penalty was blocked by Boubacar Barry. Then it was the turn of Barry to take his own spot kick. If he scored, his country will lift the trophy once again after such a long time.

He did score and ended the agony of the disappointments of the last two finals they lost in 2006 and 2012. They have played three finals in 9 years.

With the score he sent his nation into a euphoric pleasure that knows no bounds.

The victorious captain, Yaya Toure, said after clinching the hard fought continental trophy.

''Sometimes when you win with your club, it's magical, but winning with your country is something exceptional,'' Toure told the French publication, L'Equipe.

''I've lost twice in the final, so to be here now is fantastic. I'm so happy,'' he added.

Well, credit should not only go to the players but also to their French coach, Herve Renard, who did a marvelous job of selecting players based on merit and not based on past glories.

This is the second African Cup of Nations trophy he has won in a space of three years. In 2012, he led Zambia to their first Afcon trophy.

Let me use this opportunity to congratulate the Ivorians in their winning and the Ghanaians in their galant efforts in the tournament. Ghana should be proud in their performance in the mundial.

It is unfortunate that they lost once again to Ivory Coast in the finals through penalties. The first time in 1992, it was through penalties that Ghana lost to them.

But it is the nature of penalties, it could go either way for the teams. Maybe next time they will do better.
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GHANA TO FACE IVORY COAST IN THE FINAL

Ghana defeated the host Equatorial Guinea 3 - 0 in the second semi-final of the on-going CAF African Cup of Nations tournament amid crowd violence.

The Black Stars took the lead in the first half, when Jordan Ayew scored the penalty, which was given to Ghana when the Equatorial Guinea's goalkeeper Felipe Ovono fouled kwesie Appiah.

The Ghanians increased their lead in the first half, when the skillful Mubarak Wakaso, sloted in their second goal from a counter attack.

Andre Ayew

The fans of the host nation - Equatorial Guinea had already showed signs of discomfort before the end of the first half.

Second half began with Ghana continueing their pressure on their opponents, which resulted in their third goal of the match on the 75th minute, when Andre Ayew scored.

It was after this third goal that the host nation's fans lost their cool and started throwing missiles at the Ghana fans and also into the pitch.

A number of people were wounded and the match was halted for about half an hour, while the police struggled to control the situation.

The Ghana fans were huddled together with fear at the back of one of the goal post, as the agitated Equatorial Guinea fans continued to rain all sorts of missles at the Ghana fans and littered the pitch with their missiles.

The crowd violence really took away the sweet taste of a well deserved victory from the Ghana team.

The barbaric actions of the fans is a big disgrace and tarnished the image of the beautiful game in Africa.

Confederation of African Football (CAF), which is the organisers of the football tournament in Equatorial Guinea, has fined the nation $100,000, for the violence in Thursday's semi-final match against Ghana.

Ghana will play Ivory Coast on Sunday in the final. Ivory Coast beat Democratic Republic of Congo 3 - 1 in the first semi-final on Wednesday.

Equatorial Guinea will play Democratic Republic of Congo for the third place on Saturday.

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IVORY COAST BOOKED THEIR PLACE IN THE FINAL

Ivory Coast have book their spot in the final of the on-going CAF African Cup of Nations football tournament by beating the Democratic Republic of Congo 3 - 1 in the first semi - final today.

The Ivorians took the lead in the 20th minute through their talented captain Yaya Toure, who released a thunderbolt of a shot, outside the box which the goalkeeper had no answer to.

But in just three minutes later the Congolese got a penalty awarded to them when an Ivorian handled the ball in his own box. Mbokani stepped forward and calmly sloted the ball to the far right side of the post.

The keeper nearly block the ball going into the net. He scored and it was 1 - 1.

The Ivorians were better organised than the Congolese and their attackers were more determined to score goals, while their opponents seemed to have lost steam especially in the second half.

The persistence of the Ivorians yielded a second goal, through Arsenal's former player, Gervinho, who now plays for AS Roma.

Ivory Coast did not rest because they were leading 2 - 1, they kept on pressing their opponents, until the pressure produced a third goal through Kanon.

The match ended 3 - 1 putting the Ivorians in their third Afcon final in less than 10 years.

They now wait the out-come of the second semi-final, between Ghana and the host country Equatorial Guinea tomorrow.

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THE NIGERIAN 'WONDER KID' ASISAT JOINS LIVERPOOL

The Nigerian and African Women footballer of the year, Asisat Oshoala (20), has signed a contract with the Liverpool Ladies - the reigning Women's League champions.

Asisat is the 'Wonder kid' of the African Women Football. She is really a gifted player. She has skills, pace, power and also a good finisher as a striker.

Asisat Oshoala with her WC awards

The Liverpool Ladies coach, Matt Beard, was very happy that he signed her. ''We beat a number of top American and European clubs to Asisat's signature. Asisat is one of the best young players in the world,'' he said.

She show-cased her talent and skills in the 2014 Fifa Women Under - 20 World Cup in Canada, where she won the Golden Boot as the highest goal scorer and also she won the Golden Ball (MVP) of the tournament.

Later the same year she joined the Nigerian senior women team in the CAF's African Women Championships in Namibia, where she helped her country lift the trophy for the 7th time in the history of the tournament.

In that tournament she also won some individual awards, and earlier this month she won the 2014 African Women's player of the year and also the Youth player of the year. Her club in Nigeria, the Rivers Angels won the country's league.

Her new coach, Mr Beard, said that he watched her in the World Cup, where she was a sensation and the club had discussion with her to join them.

''I watched her at the Under-20 World Cup, where she was sensational, and we had early dialoge with her about coming to Liverpool.

''There's been plenty of other interest in her in the last few months, but she chose to join us and I'm absolutely delighted,'' the coach said.

Oshoala herself was glad to join the reigning Women Super League champions. ''To be able to join the reigning Super League champions is absolutely fantastic,'' she said.

''Liverpool Ladies are a massive club with some fantastic players who I nbelieve can help me to develop my game to the next level,'' Asisat added.

The latest golden girl of the Nigerian women's football, will be going with her country to this year's Fifa Women World Cup in Canada this summer.
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THE AFCON GAMES RESULTS

The African Cup of Nations tournament which began on Saturday, the 17th in Equatorial Guinea has so far not produced any big shock - in the terms of David and Goliath. All the six matches that have been played so far were okay, as per the expectations of fans.

Well, the only exception, if one can call it that was the fact that last tournament finalist - Burkina Faso lost 2 - 0 to Gabon on the opening day of the mundial.

Ghana Fans

But that may not come as a surprise to many, because Gabon has improved tremendously especially their star striker and captain, Pierre Emrick Aubamayang who plays with Borussia Dortmund.

Anyway, here are the results of the matches that have been played so far.

17/01/15

Equatorial Guinea 1 - 1 Congo

Burkina Faso 0 - 2 Gabon


18/01/15


Zambia 1 - 1 Democratic Republic of Congo

Tunisia 1 - 1 Cape Verde


19/01/15


Ghana 1 - 2 Senegal

Algeria 3 - 1 South Africa

APOY Shortlist Reduced To Five

The 2014 African Player of the Year (APOY) shortlist has been now cut to 5 candidates by the Confederation of the African Football (CAF).

It was originally a list of 25 footballers which was announced last month, November.

The award is divided into two separate categories. One is for players that are plying their trade outside Africa and the second category is for players playing in Africa.

Vincent Enyeama

The votes for the awards will be decided by the chief coaches of the national football federations affiliated to the CAF.

The winners of the two categories will be announced in a gala on the 8th of January, 2015, in Lagos, Nigeria.

The 2013 winner of the award is the Ivorian international and Man City midfielder, Yaya Toure, who is also among the five candidates. He has won the award in three occassions.

Without further ado, the following are the names of the five players.

African Player of the Year: (Foreign Based)

1).  Ahmed Musa      (CSKA Moscow and Nigeria)
2).  Asamoah Gyan   (Al Ain and Ghana) 
3).  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Dortmund and Gabon)
4).  Vincent Enyeama  (FC Lille and Nigeria)
5).  Yaya Toure          (Man City and Ivory Coast)

African Player of the Year: (African Based)

1).  Akram Djahnit  (Entente Setif and Algeria)
2).  El Hedi Belamieri (Entente Setif and Algeria)
3).  Fakhreddine Ben Youssef (CS Sfaxien and Tunisia)
4).  Firmin Mubele Ndombe  (AS Vita and DRC)
5).  Senzo Meyiwa       (Orlando Pirates and South Africa)

The South Africa goalkeeper, Senzo Meyiwa, who was killed in his girl friend's house, last October by armed robbers, was also among the five candidates.

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The Conclusion Of The Afcon Qualifiers

The last of the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers games were concluded on Wednesday, all over the continent, with the shocking result in Group A of Nigeria, the defending champions failing to qualify to the tournament after playing a 2 - 2 draw at home with South Africa.

The visiting South African team, popularly known as the Bafana - Bafana had already qualified to the tournament, but Nigeria needed a win in the match to seal up their qualification.

While the third placed Congo which had 7 points as Nigeria before the games began, needed to win to qualify if only Nigeria fail to win their match.

Nigeria Vs South Africa

Before the matches began, Nigeria was second on the Group A table as a result of CAF rule of head to head advantage between two teams that have the same points.

Anyway, Nigeria failed to get a win, while Congo playing away in Sudan got a 1 - 0 win to finish second on the table.

Nigeria still failed to clinch the best third finisher on the tables as Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) beat them to it with 9 points to their 8 points.

In Group B, Mali made it through to the second position by beating Algeria 2 - 0 which had already qualified with 15 points. Mali finished with 9 points.

The Group C qualifiers was already decided last weekend, when the two teams of Gabon and Burkina Faso went through. So the Wednesday match was just to know, which team will finish on top of the table.

So Gabon finished on top of the table with 12 points after beating Lesotho 4 - 2.  Burkina Faso came second after playing a 1 - 1 draw with Angola, finishing with 11 points.

In Group D, Ivory Coast needed a draw while hosting Cameroon the table leader with 14 points, which had already qualified.

Ivory Coast qualified after playing a 0 - 0 goalless draw, and finishing second with 10 points to the third placed DRC with 9 points. Fortunately, for the DRC they also qualified, after beating Sierra Leone 3 - 1. 

Before the Wednesday matches, the Group E was more or less open to the four teams to qualify. Ghana was on top of the table with 8 points, while Guinea and Uganda had 7 points and Togo had 6 points.

So you see, the home teams of Ghana and Guinea had to fight hard to win in order to make sure of their qualifications. And they both did not disappoint their fans, as the Nigerian team did. Ghana won Togo 3 - 1 to finish top with 11 points while Guinea defeated Uganda 2 - 0 to finish second with 10 points.

In Group F, Cape Verde and Zambia had already qualified last weekend first and second respectively. Zambia beat Cape Verde 1 - 0 in their last match on Wednesday, but that did not change their positions on the table. Cape Verde top the table with 12 points and Zambia Finished with 11 points.

The last group which is Group G, already had Tunisia and Senegal qualified, before the Wednesday games. Senegal won Botswana 3 - 0 to finish second on the table with 13 points, while Tunisia defeated Egypt 2 - 1 and finished on top of the table with 14 points.

As I mentioned earlier on in this article, the Democratic Republic of Congo, completed the 16 teams to participate in the January 17 to Febrary 8 tournament in Equatorial Guinea. The DRC finished as the team with the best result of all the teams, that finished third on the table.
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