Ghana scrape into quarter-finals

ACCRA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - African Nations Cup co-hosts Ghana scraped into the quarter-finals on Monday despite producing a nightmare performance in a 2-0 defeat against old rivals Ivory Coast.

The Black Stars went through on goal difference after all four teams in group A finished on four points following Togo's 1-0 win over Cameroon, who nevertheless went through in top place.

Ivory Coast, who needed a three-goal win to qualify at Ghana's expense, were eliminated as were Togo. Bonaventure Kalou put the Elephants ahead in first-half injury time before subsitute Donald-Olivier Sie scored in the 84th minute to set up a finale of almost unbearable tension for the home crowd.

Four times champions Ghana finished second with a goal difference of zero, while Ivory Coast finished with minus one and were left to rue the injury time goal they conceded on Friday in a 3-0 defeat to Cameroon.

Ghana's Italian coach Giuseppe Dossena, who spent most of the second half vainly urging his players to retreat into defence and protect their 1-0 defeat catenaccio style, was relieved but apologetic afterwards.

"I want to say sorry to the Ghanaian people, there's no reason for what happened today," said Dossena, whose team must now travel to Kumasi for their quarter-final and will have to play their semifinal in Nigeria if they progress. "Today we did nothing, less than nothing." "The analysis will be very deep and very difficult." Ivory Coast, who beat Ghana 11-10 on penalties to claim their only Nations Cup title eight years ago, left out Marseille striker Ibrahima Bakayoko and Inter Milan defender Cyrille Domoraud as they made six changes to the team which crashed against Cameroon.

The Elephants appeared fired up by the great rivalry with their neighbours. This came to a tragic head in 1993 when more than 20 Ghanaians living in Abidjan were killed in rioting which followed an African Champions Cup tie between club sides from the two countries.

The rough-tackling Ivorians stifled Ghana in the first half, then took a shock lead when Kalou slipped between two Ghana defeneders, latched onto a pass from the left by Hamed Modibo Diallo and fired a left-foot shot past goalkeeper Richard Kingston.

Rather than defending their lead after halftime, Ghana attacked with reckless abandon, leaving gaping holes at the back for the Ivorians to exploit. The Elephants created a series of chances, with Tchiressoa Guel heading narrowly wide from a close angle in the 57th mintue and being unlucky not to get a penalty after being hauled over in the area.

The real drama began when Bakayoko and Donald-Olivier Sie were brought on. Sie hit the crossbar in the 80th minute and four minutes later the same player broke clear of a flat Ghana defence to place the ball beyond Kingston.

Ghana - 1-Richard Kingston; 4-Samuel Kuffour, 15-Samuel Johnson, 5-Stephen Baidoo, 3-Emmanual Kuffour (6-Mohamed Gargo, 60); 8-Mark Edusei, 20-Otto Addo (7-Yaw Preko, 78), 21-Alex Nyarko, 10-Charles Akonnor; 9-Kwame Ayew, 11-Augustine Ahinful (17-Peter Ofori-Quaye, 61)
Ivory Coast - 1-Alain Gouamene; 6-Olivier Tebily, 5-Ghislain Akassou, 19-Dominique Sam Abouo; 7-Ibrahima Kone (9-Blaise Kouassi Koffi 90), 12-Serge Die, 13-Aliou Siby Badra, 14- Tchiressoa Guel, 15-Bonaventure Kalou; 11-Hamed Modibo Diallo (10-Ibrahima Bakayoko, 72), 20-Zepherine Zoko (21-Donald-Olivier Sie, 67)