Ghana hopefully will end their 33-year wait for a 5th continental title when they face Ivory Coast in the final of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Bata, Equatorial Guinea tomorrow.
The Black Stars thrashed hosts Equatorial Guinea 3-0 in Thursday’s semifinal, marred by crowd violence to get to a dream final against Ivory Coast. The Elephants defeated DR Congo 3-1 in the first semifinal on Wednesday to book a place in the final for the 3rd time in the last nine years.
Ivory Coast have won the title only once, in Senegal in 1992 – incidentally at the Blacks Stars’ expense. Meanwhile, Ghana have won the tournament in 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982.
The Elephants led by Didier Drogba were defeated by Egypt on penalties in the final of the 2006 edition hosted by the North Africans. They were also defeated on penalties to Zambia in the final of the tournament co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012.
Ghana, who also lost 1-0 to Egypt in the final of the 2010 AFCON in Angola, placed fourth in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Ghanian coach Avram Grant stated on Friday that the Black Stars would win in Bata on Sunday.
“It is good to be in the final. Before the tournament, nobody gave us a chance. Everyone talked about the other teams. Now we are in the final and we want to win,” the former Chelsea manager told AFP.
Meanwhile, coach Florent Ibenge says ''DR Congo do not have “the slightest fear” about playing at the Malabo Stadium where crowd violence marred an Africa Cup of Nations semi-final'', AFP reports.
The Congolese are booked to face hosts Equatorial Guinea Saturday at the 15,000-capacity Estadio de Malabo in a third-place play-off.
Ibenge said, “We are only thinking about football and winning the game.
“We know things happen in football, but these incidents are tiny in relation to the number of games staged around the world.”
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