Ivory Coast wins AFCON CUP after tough final

Ivory Coast emerged the new African champions on Sunday night after
they defeated the Black Stars of Ghana in the final match of the 2015
Africa Cup of Nations. They won the match played in Bata, Equatorial
Guinea 9-8 on penalties in a repeat of the 1992 AFCON final as the
game remained goalless after the extra time.
Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry scored the last of the penalties to give the
Elephants their second title as they replaced Nigeria as African
champions at the Estadio de Bata after two previous attempts in the
finals. The Elephants lost to Egypt 4-2 on penalties in Egypt 2006 and
also lost 8-7 to Zambia in the 2012 edition co-hosted by Equatorial
Guinea and Gabon.
Ghana were seeking their fifth title while the Ivorians were seeking
their second. The Elephants had defeated the Black Stars 11-10 in
penalties to win their first title in 1992 with African legend Abedi
Pele Ayew as the Ghanaian captain. On Sunday he had two of his
children losing again to the Ivorians. Abedi though missed that final
clash after he got a second yellow card in the semi final.
Elephants' coach, Herve Renard, also on Sunday became the first coach
to win the trophy with two different countries having done same with
Zambia in 2012.Sunday night was the 10th time the AFCON would be
decided through penalty shoot outs.
The finale was also the first time in the history of the tournament,
two families played in the AFCON final as the Toure brothers — Kolo
and Yaya — played against the Ayew brothers of Andre and Jordan.
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Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan returned to the starting line-up in place
of Jordan Ayew after responding quickly to medical treatment to a hip
injury. He was hurt in a collision with Guinea goalkeeper Naby Yattara
in the quarterfinals and was only on the bench for his side's
semi-final. Ivory Coast were without midfielder Cheick Tiote, who has
yet to recover from an ankle injury and veteran Barry replaced injured
Sylvain Gbohouo in goal.
The match between the two West African giants initially didn't measure
up to the expected explosive encounter but improved towards the latter
part of the match.
The Ghanaians neutralised the efforts of the current African
Footballer of the Year, Yaya Toure, Wilfred Bony and Gervinho in the
Ivorian attack while the attacking duo of Gyan and Andre Ayew were
also nullified by the Black Stars' defence.
It grew into an end to end affair but a moment of brilliance came from
Everton midfielder, Christian Atsu, in the 25th minute when he saw his
shot from 25 yards hit the upright.
In the extra time, both sides wasted chances after chances as the
Ghanaians brought in Jordan Ayew and this yielded more attack on the
Ivorian defence while Renard brought in Salomon Kalou as the game
headed to for the dreaded penalty shootouts.
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