score football magazine

Africa 2008
Ghana
Thursday February 7th

Ghana out of Africa

Cameroon reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations by knocking out the hosts Ghana. Neither side created any clear-cut chances in the first half; Dede Ayew's weakish shot in the 28th minute didn't trouble Kameni in the Cameroon goal, and Geremi's 38th minute swerving free-kick from 40-yards had the keeper beaten but came off the woodwork. Ghana pushed forward in the 2nd half, but in a counter-attack Nkong broke through and stroked the ball past Kingson into the corner of the net with 19 minutes of the match left. Agogo failed the knock the ball past Kameni in the 78th minute and headed the ball over the bar 3 minutes later. Cameroon will be without Bikey in the final after he was shown the red card in stoppage time for pushing over a medic. (Ghana 0 Cameroon 1)

nkong
Nkong goal knocks hosts out
Thursday February 7th

Elephants run into Egyptian wall

The finalists of 2 years ago met in this year's semi-final, and once again Egypt came up on top. Egypt took the lead in the 12th minute when Fathi's shot from the edge of the area was deflected past Barry. In the 29th minute Drogba brought the ball down in the box, but had his shot blocked by Egyptian keeper Essam Al-Hadari. Boubacar Barry was injured in the 37th minute and replaced by second choice keeper Stephan Loboue, who scrambled to his left to make a save when Hosni Abd Rabou attempted to pass the ball into the corner of the net from outside the area. Deep into first-half stoppage time Drogba's bullet header was straight at the keeper, but 3 minutes into the 2nd half Drogba forced Al-Hadari into a brilliant reflex save with a header that had "goal" written all over it. The Egyptian keeper had to be on his toes again in the 59th minute when he punched Arthur Boka's dipping free-kick over the bar. Egypt doubled their lead in the 62nd minute when Zaki headed a corner-kick in off the underside of the crossbar, but a minute later Abdulkader Keita pulled a goal back for the Elephants with an absolute rocket from 25 yards. Egypt regained their 2 goal advantage 4 minutes later when Zaki drove the ball past Loboue low into the bottom corner. Al-Hadari, who had been a rock all night, did well to get down and block Boka's powerful shot in the 85th minute, and as Ivory Coast continued to push forward Egypt broke through with Zidane getting into the box and rolling the ball to Aboutrika who deposited it into the roof of the net for the icing on the cake. (Egypt 4 Ivory Coast 1)

amr zaki
Egypt celebrate Zaki goal in semi


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