2012 Africa Cup Of Nations Final: Zambia Are The Champions Of Africa

There is another Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 due to CAF’s desire to change to odd years, but this year’s African championship was seen as one of the last opportunities for the Ivory Coast to win a major title. While a number of the team’s players will still be on top of their game for the 2014 World Cup, Didier Drogba will be 36. His future at Chelsea and at the highest level of professional football is still up in the air.

For all of the talent around him in the Ivory Coast side, there is no defined Drogba replacement waiting in the wings. Wilfried Bony and Seydou Doumbia are both good, young center forwards, but neither is anything like Drogba from a physical or stylistic point of view. Inserting one of them for Les Elephants’ current captain would almost necessitate a serious change in style of play.

You don’t get many souvenirs at stadiums with a track around the field, but with the way Drogba skied that one, a little kid just may have gotten his hands on a match ball way back there behind the goal. If that kid is a Ivory Coast supporter, I doubt he’d care though. The trophy that was on Drogba’s foot is back up for grabs and the hero of African football gave it, or maybe choked it, away.

Extra time is now over and penalties will decide the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations final. Zambia came closest to breaking the 0-0 deadlock at the Stade d’Angondje during the extra half-hour, hitting the woodwork via Christopher Katongo four minutes in and then seeing Rainford Kalaba blast over the bar from long range, a shot that had Boubacar Barry looking rather worried for a while.

Can Zambia really pull off a major scalp here? Can Didier Drogba make up for his hilarious second-half miss? Stay tuned to find out.

PS: If you had Cheick Tiote as the first booking of the final, congratulations!

It doesn’t look like a big deal but the big man stays down for some time and some concerned looks are exchanged on the Elephants bench. Fortunately, he eventually gets back to his feet and get on with things. Within a few minutes, he nearly manages to get on the end of a low cross following good work by Gervinho, but he’s crowded out in the Zambia box. That’s better from the Ivory Coast, though - it’s the first time they’ve had any real penetration down that side. They’re going to need a goal soon, though, or the rest of this match will be very nervy.

The Copper Bullets got off to a brilliant start with a clear-cut scoring chance in the second minute. A fantastically worked short corner kick set up Nathan Sinkala with an open shot at the far post, but he put it in a spot that allowed Boubacar Barry to make a save.

Zambia appeared to suffer a serious blow in the 5th minute when 34-year-old starting left back Joseph Musonda, making his 100th appearance for his country, picked up an ankle injury while making a last-ditch tackle on Drogba to prevent a scoring chance. He attempted to continue, but was replaced in the 11th minute. As he was coming off for possibly the final time in a competitive match for his country, he was visibly crying and, in a show of class, was consoled by Drogba. Nyambe Mulenga entered the game and slotted into Musonda’s left back position.

It should be 1-0 but it isn’t - the Manchester City star’s curling shot doesn’t work at all and ends up well wide of a relieved Kennedy Mweene’s right-hand post. A goal on that, which was the first real chance the Ivorians have created from open play, would have been really harsh on Zambia, who have been full value for the draw so far, but Toure will be kicking himself for missing that. 33 minutes gone and it’s still 0-0.

Unlike Zambia’s previous effort, from which Nathan Sinkale nearly opened the scoring, the delivery is poor and allows the Elephants to break forward via Gervinho and then Salomon Kalou. Eventually, the Ivory Coast win a pair of corners of their own, and from the second Sol Bamba rises high to win a header, which causes something of a melee in the box. Eventually, Zambia force the ball clear, but that’s the closest that the Elephants have come to scoring.

Rainford Kalaba pulls off one from the training ground and the Elephants’ defence is quite thoroughly confused, allowing the ball to skim across the face of the area. Zambia midfielder Nathan Sinkala finds himself up on the end of it, hammering a shot towards the bottom corner, but Boubacar Barry is equal to the effort and manages to hold on. The Ivory Coast have yet to concede a goal in this tournament, and going down a minute into the final would have been a pretty sad way to end that streak.

Zambia starting lineup (4-4-2): Kennedy Mweene; Davies Nkausu, Stophira Sunzu, Hijani Himoonde, Joseph Musonda; Isaac Chansa, Crisamba Lungu, Nathan Sinkala, Rainford Kalaba; Christopher Katongo, Emmanuel Mayuka.

Ivory Coast starting lineup (4-3-3): Boubacar Barry; Siaka Tiene, Sol Bamba, Kolo Toure, Jean-Jacques Gosso; Cheick Tiote, Didier Zokora, Yaya Toure; Gervinho, Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou.

Kickoff is at 2:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. local time from Libreville, Gabon.

Emmanuel Mayuka’s game-winning goal against Ghana was brilliant, but not out of the ordinary. He’s having an excellent tournament and an excellent young career, scoring regularly for Young Boys in Switzerland. His striker partner, veteran Christopher Katongo, is in similarly great form. They present a legitimate threat to Cote D’Ivoire, and it would be patronizing and unfair to say that Zambia are lucky to be here because of how good those two players have been.

It’s no surprise that Zambia’s strikers can play with anyone; Katongo and Mayuka scored three goals apiece in qualifying. What is slightly surprising, however, is that their midfield and defense also hung with the likes of Senegal and Ghana. In that respect, they are playing slightly above their talent level, but if they’re able to match Les Elephants, that will represent a serious trend. Three great games against supposedly superior opposition in one tournament could hardly be described as just luck.