It’s West Africa versus North Africa today as tournament favourites Ghana will tonight take on Tunisia for the semi final ticket in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations. With the absence of big guns, Ghana and Ivory Coast have been installed as the favourites to win this Nations Cup. While Ivory Coast qualified with maximum points, Ghana qualified with seven points. The last time these two sides met was in an international friendly in 2008 and the game ended in a goalless draw.
Ghana have been less than convincing since the inception of the tournament, with their star studded cast much is expected from the team. Ghanaian football has been on the rise in the past five years, their U-20 side won the World Cup, a first for any African country. They also made it to the quarter finals of the World Cup and Luis Suarez infamous handball cost them the semi final. Ghana who are four-time winners of the Nations Cup will have to step up their game if they are to win their fifth Nations Cup. The last time Ghana won the Nations Cup was in 1982. Ghana defeated Botswana 1-0 in their first game before despatching Mali 2-0 in the second leg and played out a 1-1 draw against a 10-man Guinea in their last game to finish top of the group. So far Ghana have not shown their championship winning material.
Ghana assistant coach Kwasi Appiah believes opponents prepare well when facing Ghana. “The name of Ghana rose so high after the World Cup and therefore teams coming to play against us come in with very high motivation”, he said. “Everybody coming to play Ghana all of a sudden prepares very differently and comes in with a different mentality because they believe they are coming up against the best in Africa.”
Tunisia on the other hand will be looking to make it to the semi final for the first time since 2004 when they hosted and won the competition on home soil. After then, they exited at the quarter finals in the next two Nations Cup and in the last Nations Cup in Anglola? in 2010 they crashed out of the first round. Tunisia opened their Nations Cup campaign with a 2-1 victory against Morocco in the North Africa Derby followed by another 2-1 win over Niger.In their last game against host Gabon, they lost by a lone goal to finish second in the group. Youssef Msakni has been in stunning form for the Carthage Eagles, he has been the star man for Tunisia so far with two goals. Veteran Adel Chadli has been sent home from the Tunisia squad due to disciplinary problems.
Meanwhile , host Gabon are making the quarter-finals of the Nations Cup for the first time since 1996. And if they beat Mali ,they will be making the semi-final for the first time in their history. They will be full of confidence with the home crowd behind them but they will be up against a Malian side led by Barcelona mid-fielder Seydou Keita. Mali finished fourth in the Nations Cup in 2002 and 2004 and since then have been on a downfall. They crashed out of the Nations Cup in the first round in their last two Nations Cup appearance.
Star player Seydou Keita believes Gabon will provide a tough test for his side,he said: We are planning to play against them, but I must confess to you that it’s going to be a tough match. Gabon will be playing at home before some 40,000 supporters. They defeated two top favourites of the tournament – Morocco and Tunisia – to lead their group. We will surely be playing like we’ve got nothing to lose. I think that should be the best option for now to ease the tension and pressure on us because the road is now rougher.