Egypt to meet Ghana in final

Published>Fri, Jan 29 10 07:10 AM

Egypt and Ghana have advanced to the African Nations Cup final, maintaining their records as the tournament's most successful teams.

They will both play in a final for an eighth time when they meet in Luanda on Sunday after Ghana edged out Nigeria 1-0 and Egypt thumped Algeria 4-0 in the semi-finals.

Egypt, who remain on course for a record-breaking third successive title, will be heavily fancied against the injury-hit Ghanaian team, who overcame the absence of several key players to book their first final in 18 years.

Egypt had been eliminated from World Cup qualification by Algeria but extracted a measure of revenge with the victory in a game that saw three Algerian players sent off.

Rafik Halliche, Nader Belhadj and goalkeeper Fawzi Chaouchi were red carded while Hosni Abd Rabou (penalty), Mohamed Zidan, Mohamed Abdelshafi and Mohamed Nagui scored for Egypt.

"It's clear the referee spoilt the game. The first red card was for nothing and we were completely deflated by that," Algeria coach Rabah Saadane said.

Ghana turned in a tight defensive performance to beat Nigeria, Asamoah Gyan's 21st minute header the difference between the sides.

Ghana went into the tournament without several key players and then lost captain Michael Essien after he suffered a knee injury in training.

Egypt, who stretched their record-breaking unbeaten run at the Nations Cup to 18 games after Thursday's win, have won six titles while Ghana have won four.

Thursday's losers meet in a play-off match in Benguela on Saturday.

Source: Web Search