Ghana reached the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals for the sixth tournament in a row after Jordan and André Ayew secured a 2-1 win over the Democratic Republic of Congo in a rough-and-tumble match.
The goals came in a 15-minute second-half spell when Aston Villa’s Jordan Ayew put the Black Stars in front in the 63rd minute, Paul-José Mpoku equalised with a long-range strike five minutes later before a penalty by West Ham’s André Ayew settled the match.
Ghana, who won the last of their four titles in 1982, will face Cameroon in the semi-finals on Thursday. Egypt’s Mahmoud Kahraba scored a dramatic late goal to snatch a 1-0 win over Morocco in Sunday’s other quarter-final to book a semi-final against Burkina Faso on Wednesday.
The Ghana-DRC match was punctuated by 46 fouls. Ghana, missing their injured captain, Asamoah Gyan, barely mustered a shot on goal in the first half and nearly fell behind in the seventh minute when Dieumerci Mbokani pounced on a mistake but hit the post from a difficult angle. Mbokani also had another effort saved by Brimah Razak late in the half as DR Congo threatened an upset.
Ghana showed much more purpose after the break. Wakaso set up the first goal when he won possession in DR Congo’s half and slipped the ball to Jordan Ayew who held off his marker and curled the ball past Ley Matampi from the edge of the area.
DR Congo hit back five minutes later when they caught Ghana napping with a quickly taken free-kick. The ball was passed to Mpoku who scored with a 30-metre shot which swerved away from Razak.
Christian Atsu, on loan at Newcastle from Chelsea, then burst into the Congolese area and went down under a clumsy challenge by Joyce Lomalisa. André Ayew made no mistake from the spot, sending Matampi the wrong way. Ghana never looked comfortable at the back and still had to survive some nervy moments before victory was assured.
Egypt, who have won the cup seven times, were on the back foot for much of the game against their north African rivals but grabbed the winner from an 87th-minute corner. Morocco failed to clear the bouncing ball and the substitute Kahraba hooked it home from close range.
The victory was the first for Egypt against Morocco for 31 years and ended the hopes of the latter’s coach, Frenchman Hervé Renard, of collecting a third Nations Cup trophy.
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