• Mayuka comes off bench to send Zambia into final for first time since 1994
• Mweene saves Gyan penalty
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 February 2012 17.53 GMT
- Article history
Paul will be here from 3.30pm GMT with live, minute-by-minute coverage of the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final between Zambia and Ghana.
If you get here first, here's Jonathan Wilson on the Mali team's plea for peace.
There were a lot of tears in Libreville on Sunday. There were the tears of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, overwhelmed by having missed the decisive penalty in Gabon's shootout defeat to Mali and there were the tears of Seydou Keita as he used his side's progress to the semi-final for the first time in 10 years to highlight the crisis overwhelming his country.
Keita began the tournament fronting an Oxfam campaign to raise awareness of the food crisis sweeping the Sahel after a year of poor rains. His words on Sunday were even more emotive, and came with a ringing immediacy. His face as he stepped up to take the final penalty looked drained, but his nerve remained sure and he converted with a precise, low shot.
The tears then were from Aubameyang, distraught in the centre-circle. He has been one of the players of the tournament, a powerful and mobile forward who had come to embody his country's emergence as possible winners. Sylvia Bongo, the first lady, took to wearing an Aubameyang 9 shirt, as did a lot of the crowd. As he stepped up to take his penalty, his anxiety was obvious; it wasn't an awful shot, but neither was it particularly near the corner and Soumbeila Diakité saved relatively comfortably low to his left.
For the full story, click here.
Hello and welcome to the latest installement of what has been a tremendous tournament so far, full of enterprise and drama. Most folks expect the final to be a repeat of the 1992 showdown, in which Ivory Coast prevailed over Ghana in an epic penalty shoot-out, but Ghana have been somewhat laboured in the tournament so far and it is certainly possible for a slick and clever Zambia side to beat them today (and. of course, Mali could eliminate the Elephants later).
Here are the line-ups:
Zambia: Mweene; Kasonde, Sunzu, Himoonde, Musonda; Nkausu, Sinkala; Chansa, Kalaba; Katongo, Chamanga
Ghana: Kwarasey; Inkoom, Boye, Mensah, Lee Addy; Boateng, Annan; Dede, Asamoah, Jordan; Gyan
Promising start by Matt Smith on ITV: Hervé Renanrd had a spell in Angola as assistant manager so he'll know their players pretty well," suggests Smith, failing to explain why knowledge of Angolan players will help him plot victory over Ghana.
Apparently organisers claimed a crowd of 35,000 was expected at the Estadio de Bata. Instead it looks small than 8,400 that were with me at St Mary's last night to seee Millwall beat Southampton. Less chance of catching frozen extremities down Equatoral Guinea way, though ...
1 min: On a moist pitch the game gets going.
3 min: The duel between Inkoom and Kalaba will be one of the most interesting features of this match and the Zambian has struck the first blow, dispossessing Inkoom before skipping pat two players and sending in a reasonable shot that gets deflected wide. There follows an admirably inventive corner routine which creates a shooting opportunity for Chamanga, who blasts over.
6 min: Kalaba pulls a corner out to the edge of the box, where Chamanga arrives at speed and let fly, but his shot is charged down.
PENALTY to Ghana! Asamoah goes down easily ... and then gets up to take the spotkick himself ... and sees his low sidefooter palmed away by Mweene!
9 min: The Ayew brothers have plenty of space out wide in view of Zambia's qutie narrow formation. But they can go through the middle too, via Gyan, who has just picked his way past two defenders and then fired a low shot from 25 yards that Mweene could only parry.
12 min: Zambia look good going forward but rather panickey at the back. This game promises goals.
14 min: After working a nice opening for Inkoom down the right, the full-back over-hits his cross. Dede Ayew retrieves it and is fouled at the edge of the area. The angle is too acute for a shot so Asamoah scoops it into the centre and Zambia clear.
16 min: Boys may not cry, but Boye might: if Ghana get to the final, he won't play, as he's just got booked for a ludicrous high tackle on Chansa.
19 min: Ghana have taken control of this and Zambia are struggling to get out of their half.
21 min: A glimmer of an opening for Chansa, but Boye closes it off, showing his speed to get to Katongo's through-ball first.
23 min: Dede Andre effortlessly get in behind the Zmabian defence down the right and then pulls the ball back for Gyan, whose attempted shot is diverted by Sinkala.
26 min: Zambia have managed to get a bit of possession over the last few minutes, and though they just went from side to side it will have benefitted them to have had a break from chasing Ghanaians.
30 min: Dede clips a freekick to the back post, where Jordan arrives unmarked but completely misses the ball!
32 min: As they did against Senegal in the first match, Zambia counter-attack brilliantly, with Kalaba tisting cleverly before threading an artful ball through to Katongo ... who, following a well-timed run, is free in front of goal ... but tonkls wide!
36 min: Mweene comes hurtling out of goal to intercept a corner ... but misses entirely. Happily for him, so did Mensah.
38 min: Asamoah's shot from 20 yards is deflected wide by Nkausu.
41 min: Inkoom blasts high and wide after being put free down the right. Given Zambia's counter-attacking prowess, Ghana could be made to pay for their profligacy here.
43 min: Gyan nods wide from 10 yards. Gyan, incidentally, has the number 3 shaved in the side of his head, presumably because that is his jersey number. I wonder if this wheeze of decorating your head with your clothes' number will catch on? Should I tattoo 10 on my forehead in reference to my shoe size? Perhaps I should consider shaving '100% polyster' into my eyebrows to denote my underwear material?
Half-time: Ghana dominated, playing with imaginations and a high tempo, but lacking incision. Zambia look threatning on their rare counter-attacks. The game, then, is finely poised.
46 min: Zambia have made a change, with Mayuka replacing Chamanga. Zambia's counter-attacking potential is thius boosted, as Mayukla is a nimble schemer sort.
49 min: Jordan cuts in from the left and lets fly but can't beat Mweene. Meanwhile, Zambia manager Hervé Renard roars and gesticulates excitedxlty on the sideline, prompting Clive Tyldsley on ITV to suggest: "He looks a bit like Teddy Sheringham and acts a bit like Basil Fawlty." Was wondering how he'd manage to crowbar in a reference to Sheringham. Mention of that night in Barcelona can't be far behind ...
52 min: Yet more errant finishing by Ghana, as Jordan Ayew fails to connect with a fine cross from his brother, and then Boye, improvising quickly, heads over the bar.
55 min: Mayuka raids down the right and sends a low cross tantalisingly close to Kabala, but Boye does well to intervene and prod behind for a corner.
58 min: Dede dispossessed Kabala and the darts into the box, before being crowded out.
61 min: Dede curls a decent freekick into the box and desperate Zambia marking means three Ghanaians challenge for the ball unhindered. Gyan heads at Mweene.
62 min: Boateng booked for foul on Katongo.
65 min: Strong and skilful run by Gyan, culminating with a decent shot that Mweene saves comfortably.
67 min: Good Kalaba cross. Bad Sunzu header.
69 min: Mweene's one weakness seems to be his didginess on crosses. He has just missed another, although his attempt to clasp it was sufficient to prevent Gyan from making a proper connection.
71 min: Ghana change: Mensah off, Vorsah on.
74 min: Gyan has been replaced. "Since we don't get coverage of the ACN in the US, can you tell me which teams you expect to overpay on which players for a few weeks of solid performances during the cup?" asks Todd Landaburu. "Any guess will do...that Katongo fella looks sprightly in the image above." John Boye has been excellent for Ghana in this match as he has been all tournament. Ditto Kalaba (but for Zambia). Tunisia's Youssef Msanki was a tircky delight, and Gabon's Pierre Aubameyang was too.
GOAL! Ghana 0-1 Zambia (Mayuka 77') After all of Ghana's misses, Zambia strike on the counter, with the substitute Mayuka performing a little feint to get away from Boye and make space for a shot and then curling the ball in off the post from the edge of the box!
79 min: This time Mweene does well on a cross, cutting out Dede's delivery.
81 min: Tagoe, the man who came on instead of Gyan, tires to make gfains down the left but Zambia quickly get he ball back and rip forward on another slick counter. But Kalaba's shot lacks the power and precision to disturb Kwarasey.
83 min: Zambia are currently on course for a place in the final in Libreville. The last time they reached the final was in 1994, less than a year after virtually their entire squad was killed in a plane crash off the coast of ... Libreville.
84 min: RED CARD! Like John Mensah against Botswana earlier in the tournament, Boateng has just been sent off for bringing down an opponent to stop a counter-attack, though whether he meant to do it, as opposed to just falling into the player, is unclear.
86 min: Ghana pile men into the box for a corner. But Asamoah's delivery fails to beat the first defender.
87 min: Ghana throw on Sulley Muntari, who has three minutes to atone for a disappointing tournament by him so far.
88 min: Muntari's first contribution is to take a corner. And under-hit it.
89 min: That's a terrific tackle by Himoonde to prevent Inkoom from cutting the ball back to Tagoe after a defensive mistake. Corner to Ghana. Sunzu clears.
90 min: Another heroic block by Zambia as Ghana pile on the pressure! There will be at least four more minutes of this to endure ...
90+3 min: Ghana are not producing enough to get through and Zambia are seeing this out with relative ease.
Full-time: Zambia are into the final for the first time since 1994 and what a superb achievement it has been to get there. They are a slick, spirited and well-organised side and, whether they face Ivory Coast or Mali, have a decent chance of being crowned African champions for the first time. Ghana, meanwhile, are left to mourn wasteful finishing. Poor old ASamoah Gyan has another penalty miss to regret.
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