Ghana squeezed through to the African Cup of Nations semifinals with a 2-1 win over Tunisia on Sunday following goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi’s dreadful mistake in extra time.
Mathlouthi dropped a seemingly harmless cross to allow Andre Ayew to poke home Ghana’s winner in the 101st minute and take the Black Stars through a tense quarterfinal and into a last-four meeting with Zambia.
Recalled Ghana captain John Mensah headed his team in front in the 10th minute at Stade de Franceville, but Saber Khalifa put Tunisia level in the 42nd, also from a header, after a cross by Zouhaier Dhaouadi.
Ghana meets Zambia in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, while Ivory Coast will play Mali in Wednesday’s other semifinal in Libreville, Gabon.Tunisia defender Aymen Abdennour was sent off late on for elbowing Ayew in a bad-tempered finish as his team’s frustrations boiled over after matching Ghana, only for Mathlouthi’s blunder to seal its exit.
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| Tunisia's Saber Khelifa |
Mathlouthi’s awful moment—in which he spilled Emmanuel Agyemang Badu’s cross right at the feet of Ayew—came after Tunisia had made a strong start in extra time and looked to be in control against a Ghana team that rode its luck throughout the 120 minutes.
All Ayew had to do was control the ball and side-foot into the empty net from a slight angle to keep the four-time champion’s hopes of a first title in 30 years intact.
Abdennour raised his elbow toward Ayew’s face to earn a straight red card in the 108th, as Tunisia’s players lost their discipline at the end.
Substitute Issam Jemaa was also lucky not to be punished by the Cameroonian referee after lunging in with two reckless tackles.
“Maybe at the end it wasn’t the best,” Ghana assistant coach Kwesi Appiah said. “They (Tunisia) made a game look like a war. We knew Tunisia had a good team and we had to rely on counterattacks. We weren’t surprised it went to extra time. We’re just lucky to be going to the next round.”
Jemaa had a goal disallowed for offside in the opening 30 seconds of extra time as the North Africans found some momentum.
Youssef Msakni directed a cross agonizingly wide soon after Ayew’s goal, before the game slipped into a collection of mistimed and reckless tackles in the final 15 minutes.
Ayew should have sealed victory for Ghana at the very end, but dragged his shot wide after cutting inside to open up a clear chance for himself.
“I think it’s a great disappointment,” Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi said. “I can’t blame my players for anything. We did not deserve to lose this game but that is the law of football. We dominated our opponent but couldn’t make it (count). We deserved to go further.”
Ghana scored against the early run of play when Mensah rose highest to meet a corner at the far post for his second goal in two games. He was sent off in Ghana’s opening win over Botswana at the start of the group stage.
Tunisia’s early frustration showed as Mathlouthi squared up to Sulley Muntari in the goal mouth, and its players’ moods didn’t improve when Khalifa went down after he appeared to be tugged back in the penalty area by Samuel Inkoom—but no penalty was given.
Khalifa had his revenge just before halftime when he out-jumped Inkoom for the equalizer.
Tunisia’s Saihi Jamel escaped with just a stern word from referee Alioum Neant after a late sliding tackle on Mensah in the early stages of the second half, which forced the Ghana skipper off with injury to limp back to the dressing room.
Tunisia opened up Ghana cleverly in the 70th when Khalifa laid off a short pass to Msakni, and only a desperate block from Mensah’s replacement, Isaac Vorsah, deflected the ball just over the crossbar.
Ghana frontman Asamoah Gyan, who was quiet for most of the game, pulled away from his marker in the 74th but his volley was saved well by Mathlouthi, who reacted quickly to divert the ball away with his right hand.
Jemaa forced Ghana goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey to dive full stretch to his right to keep out a stinging long-range strike with four minutes of the 90 to go.
Mathlouthi then left his goal line and dropped Badu’s cross when it appeared to be sailing out for a goal kick, and Ayew took advantage as the goalkeeper lay prone with his hands over his eyes.
Lineups:
Ghana: Adam Kwarasey, Asamoah Gyan (Prince Tagoe, 100), John Mensah (Isaac Vorsah, 53), Anthony Annan, Samuel Inkoom, Emmanuel Agyemang Badu, Andre Ayew, Sulley Muntari (Jordan Ayew, 64), Masahudu Alhassan, Kwadwo Asamoah, John Boye.
Tunisia: Aymen Mathlouthi, Bilel Ifa (Anis Boussaidi, 82), Karim Haggui, Houcine Ragued, Youssef Msakni, Khalil Chammem, Mejdi Traoui, Zouhaier Dhaouadi (Oussama Darragi, 107), Saber Khalifa, Aymen Abdennour, Jamel Saihi (Issam Jemaa, 69).
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