Cameroon struck two goals in the last twenty minutes to eliminate favorites Ghana and book a mouth watering Africa Cup of Nations final with Egypt.
The finals will be a mere repeat of the 2008 edition where the Indictable Lions defeated Ghana 1-0 through an Alain N’Kong’s 72nd minute goal but went on to lose 4-1 to the Pharaohs in the finals.
The match characterized by physical battles, was initially set for an extra time but defender, Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui made profits out of a 72nd minute defensive hitch in the black Stars defense to fire in from close range.
Ghana custodian, Brimah Razak, failed to control proceedings in his box from a freekick which John Boye clumsily brushed to Ngadeu at the back end. The defender calmly controlled and sent one to the roof top of the net.
Avram Grant was forced to bring on his half fit captain Asamoah Gyan for Acquah to savor the situation but it was all futile.
The skipper rekindled the spirit and motivated a series of attacks in the green half of the pitch with lots of anxiety but it later turned disastrous.
Aboubakar and Bassagog capitalized on the numerical advantage and launched a 2 vs 1 kind of counter attack which later switched to the latter on the right side. Bassagog raced through the box and clipped a cheeky left tap beyond Razak and for the second goal just at the death of extra time.
The Black Stars arrived in the game as outright favorites to survive but were often on the back foot. Harrison Afful was on point to clear the ball off the line after Teikeu had rose high to thump a strong header in the seventh minute.
Razak also had to deal with several attacks especially from Tambe. Wakaso, Atsu and the Ayews also witnessed their attempts either saved or go into waste.
Ghana will now head to Port-Gentil for a third place showdown against Burkina Faso on Saturday evening.
Lineups
Cameroon: Fabrice Ondoa, Adolphe Teikeu, Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui, Ambroise Oyongo Bitolo, Benjamin Moukandjo, Jacques Zoua Daogari, Christian Bassogog, Sebastien Siani, Arnaud Sutchuin Djoum (77′ Georges Mandjeck), Ndip Tambe (73′ Vincent Aboubakar), Collins Fai
Ghana: Brimah Razak, Afriyie Acquah (74′ Asamoah Gyan), Thomas, (86′ Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu), Christian Atsu, Jordan Ayew, Andre Ayew, Wakaso Mubarak, Daniel Amartey, Djoum John Boye, Frank Acheampong, Harrison Afful