Manchester City team-mates Yaya Touré and Wilfried Bony helped seal Ivory Coast’s passage into the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations with a 3-1 win at the expense of Algeria last night.
Bony headed in his first of two goals off a curling Max Gradel assist, then added a second after the break with another header, this time off the free-kick of his new Manchester City colleague. Gervinho, formerly of Arsenal, added the third in injury time. Hilal Soudani had scored the equaliser for Algeria after he took advantage of a defensive mix-up in the Ivory Coast area.
Everton’s Christian Atsu scored two goals and Kwesi Appiah added another to help Ghana advance to the semi-finals for the fifth straight time with a 3-0 victory over Guinea. Atsu, who is on loan at Goodison Park from Chelsea, put the Black Stars ahead in the fourth minute by scoring after a back-heel pass from Andre Ayew. He added another in the 61st minute.
Appiah scored the second goal of the match just before the break, controlling a defensive mistake from Baissama Sankoh and beating Guinea goalkeeper Naby Yattara.
“For us, we had a winning mentality,” Atsu said. “We went for a win and we worked hard for it. That’s why we won the game. Not because they are a bad team. We went for a win. That’s all.”
The Tunisian Football Federation president, Wadie Jary, resigned from the Confederation of African Football yesterday in protest at the manner of his team’s exit.
A soft penalty cost Tunisia a semi-final place on Saturday as they went from a goal up in stoppage time against Equatorial Guinea in Bata to losing 2-1 in extra time.
In Saturday’s other quarter-final Democratic Republic of Congo fought back from two goals down to beat Congo 4-2, with Dieumerci Mbokani scoring twice.
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