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CAIRO (AP) – Tunisia eliminated Ghana from the Africa Cup of Nations in a penalty shootout 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 the highly starred West Africans have still not won the Africa Cup since their fourth title in 1982. Ghana has lost three finals since then, including 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 had allowed Cote d'Ivoire to rank in the last eight with a 1-0 win over Mali in Suez.
The winner of Zaha in the 76th minute saved Ivory Coast, who had been the second best team for most of the match.
But Zaha tried his luck, unlike the Malian players. He ran on a long pbad from the back and concealed his shot after the Malian defense failed to manage 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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