Ghana’s Black Stars may be able to break the spell and win the Africa Cup of Nations today by beating Ivory Coast—in a match which will kick off in few hours (19:00GMT).
Both teams have had eerily similar campaigns. They both breezed through qualifying, but then had the slowest of starts to the competition. Both topped their groups, and then went on to win both the quarter and semi finals by scoring three goals in each game.
Aside the similarity in their progress in this tournament, the biggest backdrop to this clash of giants is the history behind this clash. Amidst the plethora of matches the two teams have contested in, none looms larger than the 1992 African Cup Final in Senegal.
That contest in Dakar ended with Cote d’Ivoire lifting the trophy after penalties, their first and only AFCON win to date. That Black Stars team was led by- excluding the final where he was unable to play due to suspension- Ghana’s soccer maestro Abedi Ayew Pele.
It was a painful defeat, especially as Ghana had a very star studded team who was everyone’s favourites. A little over twenty years later, a chance has popped up for Ghana to avenge that defeat.
The Black Stars have been steadily improving over the course of the tournament, and since that first round loss have scarcely looked back. They are genuinely improving game by game, each performance somehow supplanting the sublime one that came before.
Can the Black Stars win the heart of Ghanaians back by winning tonight’s match? Join us here on GhanaCelebrities.Com for the live broadcast, updates and commentary of the grand finale in Malabo.
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