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CAIRO – Tunisia eliminated Ghana from the African Cup of Nations in a penalty shoot-out on Monday, extending the Black Stars long-distance run to the tournament for at least two years.
The title's drought is now 37 years old and counts for Ghana, eliminated 5-4 in the shootout at Ismailia, while striker Caleb Ekuban was the only player to miss.
Goalkeeper Farouk Ben Mustapha was the hero of Tunisia in the final match. He was brought especially for the shooting and made a winning stop from Ekuban.
This forced Ferjani Sbadi to score and score with the last throw and to send Tunisia in the quarter-finals against the Madagascar surprise package.
Tunisia was about to win in regulation time after Taha Khenissi scored in the 73rd minute. Ghana scored a spectacular equalizer two minutes into the injury when Rami Bedoui led the ball into his own net after being replaced by 1-1.
There were no goals in overtime.
The failure of Ghana means that West Africans have not yet won in the African Cup since their fourth title in 1982. Ghana has lost three finals since, including on penalties in 2015.
Tunisia was the last team to carve out a place in Egypt.
The composition of the quarter-finals is as follows: Senegal against Benin, Nigeria against South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire against Algeria and Tunisia against Madagascar.
Earlier, Wilfried Zaha's goal allowed Côte d'Ivoire to be in the top eight with a 1-0 win over Mali in Suez.
The 76th-minute winner of Zaha saved Côte d'Ivoire, who had been the second best team for most of the match.
But Zaha tried his luck while the Malian players did not do it. He ran a long pbad from the back and withdrew after the Malian defense failed to deal with the danger.
Mali scored twice more on penalties than the Ivorians, dominated the first half and also finished the strongest match. Malians simply could not break through.
Ivory Coast was champion of 2015 and is looking for a third title.
The quarter-finals begin Wednesday.
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