Hosts knock themselves out amid fan chaos
February 5, 2015
Hosts of the Africa Cup of Nations 2015, Equatorial Guinea exited the competition in disgraceful fashion. With the contest long over at 3-0 to Ghana, the Equatorial Guinea fans started throwing bottles at the away fans, players and officials.
The Ghana fans cowered behind one of the goals in an attempt to protect themselves, before being escorted off through the players' tunnel during a 40-minute delay. A helicopter hovered low in the stadium in an attempt to disperse the crowd, tear gas was used - although some journalists and fans not involved suffered from the spread of the gas.
The Equatorial Guinea players pleaded with their own fans to stop.
Bizarrely, the game did restart but only three minutes of stoppage time were played, not the eight that had been left on the clock when the interruption first occurred. The entire incident has stained an otherwise commendable effort from Equatorial Guinea to host the 2015 tournament at the last minute. It also puts their third-place playoff game against the DR Congo in jeopardy.
Ghana the better side
The football itself was one-sided as Ghana deservedly progressed to the final. Three minutes before the break, Kwesi Appiah burst through the hosts' defense only to be clipped by an outrushing Felipe Ovono. The goalkeeper was booked and Jordan Ayew had no trouble converting the spot kick. Javier Balboa was tackled heavily by Ghana's Harrison Afful, who saw yellow, as tempers began to flare up. Before the hosts could tame their ill discipline though, Ghana struck again on a ruthless counterattack. Christian Atsu squared for Wakaso Mubarak, who took a touch to be the defender and then swept home to make it 2-0 Ghana at half time.
It was towards the end of the first 45 minutes, and during the interval, that the trouble in the stands began as the frustrated home fans started throwing bottles onto the pitch and at the referee.
Ten minutes into the second half and Ghana should have made it 3-0 after Mubarak headed a free kick back across the box but both Andre Ayew and John Boye failed to get a touch. Appiah fired at Ovono and Ghana continued to spurn chances on the break, before Andre Ayew tucked home from close range to seal their place in the final.