Will Stars be third time lucky?

THE national football team, the Black Stars, was on Sunday gifted from a horrendous goalkeeping error by Tunisian goalkeeper, to score the much needed extra time goal to qualify for the semi-final stage of the ongoing African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. That was after the two sides had settled for one-all draw during the stipulated 90 minutes.

GHANA captain, John Mensah’s headed goal was cancelled through another header by a Tunisian striker just at the stroke of half-time. The Stars qualification completed the semi-final haul with Mali becoming the third country to qualify earlier in the day after defeating favourite co-host, Gabon, 5-4 on penalties, after the two teams had settled for a one-one draw.

EARLY on Saturday, Cote D’Ivoire and Zambia became the first two countries to qualify for the semi-finals of the competition. On Wednesday, Ghana take on Zambia in the first semi-final clash in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, while Cote D’Ivoire play Mali the same day in the second semi-final match of the tournament.

WITH the victory, Ghana has on three times in succession, qualified to the semi-finals of the AFCON. The first was in Ghana 2008 when as host nation Ghana only managed a third position after losing the semi-final duel to Cameroun.

THE Stars repeated a similar feat in Angola 2012, after beating Nigeria to qualify to the finals to set up a crunch duel with Egypt. The Egyptians however beat Ghana to win a record seventh AFCON title, winning the last three of the AFCON tournaments.

MATCHES between Ghana and Zambia have over the years been played with keen aggression and the will to go the extra mile. The last time the two sides met in an AFCON competition was in South Africa 1996 when Ghana had in its fold top class performers like Abedi Pele, Anthony Yeboah, Nii Odartey Lamptey, Sam Johnson, Ibrahim Tanko among others.

AFTER losing 3-0 to host South Africa, Ghana squared off with Zambia for the third place which unfortunately the Stars lost by a lone goal. It was a match that the Black Stars although dominated, could not find the cutting edge to beat Zambia.

BUT perhaps the best of Zambia-Ghana matches were recorded in 1992 and 1978. In the Senegal ‘92 clash, Ghana beat Zambia by a lone goal. That was the era of Ghana’s football maestro- Abedi Pele, whose individual brilliance separated the two well-grilled sides that also had the dreadful Kalusha Bwalya as their key man.

WHILE Ghana boasted of Edward Ansah, Nii Darko Ankrah, Kwesi Appiah, Emmanuel Armah Senegal, Frimpong Manso, Stanley Aboraa, Ali Ibrahim, Nii Odartey Lamptey, Tony Baffour, Tony Yeboah and Abedi Pele, Zambia boasted as perhaps the best assembly of players in the country’s history. They included Efford Chabala, Wisdom Chansa, Fighting Somonkonde and Kalusha Bwalya.

THAT generation could however not realize the Zambian dream when they perished off the coast of Gabon in a harrowing plane crash. The only member of that squad to have survived the air disaster was Kalusha Bwalya, who decided to meet the team in Dakar, Senegal from his Belgium base. Kalusha was the key player of Belgian giant—Cercle Brugge.

BEFORE the ‘92 clash, Ghana had sweated out with Zambia during the opening of the Ghana ‘78 tournament in Accra. The Zambians took an early lead through danger man, Godfried Chitalu, before Golden boy, Abdul Razak and Opoku Afriyie to beat Zambia 2-1.

CHITALU, who later became the Technical Director of Zambia Football, was part of the team that perished in the plane crash. With the tightness of Ghana-Zambia matches, it is clear Ghana’s determination to break its AFCON failure will be put to real test by the well-knit Zambian side led by Christopher Katango.