African Cup Of Nations: Historic Qualification For Togo, Ivory Coast Comes Out Top

Emmanuel Adeboyor led Togo to the quarter finals for the first time since participation in the biannual competition, Togo took the lead when Adeboyor’s pass found Serge Gakpe who fired the ball from a tight angle. The game was marred by several incidents as there were 9 yellow card booking, Togo had 6 yellow card while Tunisia got 3. Tunisia levelled some minutes later through Khaled Mouelhi’s Penalty. The same player lost another penalty in the second half in a must win game for the North African team. Togo on the other hand just needed a draw to go through. The tides turned around for Tunisia after the equaliser and they began to search for a goal desperately, the manager – Sami Trabelsi made some changes in a bid to get the much needed goal but all to no avail as the Togolese team defended well and the goalkeeper Agassa made two superb save toward the end of the game. Didier Six the Togolese manager was filled with excitement – “This is Huge for Togo, the first time they had qualified for the quarter finals. The will be party in the country now”- Six expressed.

The other game was a formality of some sort, the title favourite Ivory Coast played against Algeria. Ivory Coast manager used some fringe players as they had qualified already. Algeria on the other hand had been eliminated and were only playing for pride. The Ivorian had to come twice through legendary Didier Drogba and new sensation Bony Wilfred. The Quarter Finals will be played on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Quarter Final Fixtures

Saturday

South Africa Vs Mali

Ghana Vs Cape Verde

Sunday

Burkina Faso Vs Togo

Ivory Coast Vs Nigeria

Oba Adeola Amokomowo

Bundesliga/African Soccer Contributor

@amoky