The Ghana vs Equatorial Guinea semi-final game on Thursday, February 5, 2015 was held up for about 50 minutes after agitated home fans threw objects onto the pitch.
They were incensed that their darling team had been pummelled rather badly by the Black Stars of Ghana in the foul strewn game played at the Malabo Stadium.
Before the fans decided they had had enough of the thrashing while there still remained eight minutes to play however, goals by Jordan Ayew, (penalty), Mubarak Wakasu and Andre Ayew had positioned the Black Stars comfortably on the road to meet the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in the finals on Sunday.
It is unclear what CAF’s decision on the bizarre incident would be but the scenes did not look too good for African football, with commentator after commentator describing the incidents as strange.
The 3:0 scoreline was not unexpected though, for the Equatorial Guinea side were up against a soccer powerhouse highly tipped to lift the diadem.
The game was only 7 minutes old when the hosts threatened the Ghana goal, however with Jordan Ayew consistently caught offside at the opposite section, the game looked promising. Unfortunately the early impression from Equatorial Guinea appeared that was all they had to off, resorting to protests at every decision of the referee.
It was not until 41 minutes when a Kwasi Appiah foray into the Guinean box saw goalkeeper Ovono Ovono foul the attacker to register a penalty, neatly converted by Jordan. Another goal was on the cards as Mubarak Wakasu finished off a Christian Atsu carpet pass in the 45th minute. Ayew’s goal came in the 75th minute when he buried a perfect pass from Kwasi Appiah who won a scramble for the ball with goalkeeper Ovono.
All along, the home fans were volleying plastic water containers onto the pitch, and the situation got worse when the Guineans started attacking Ghanaian soccer fans, whose only escape was to scale into the inner perimeter.
After the game was held up for about 50 minutes, officials strangely played three additional minutes before leading the players off the pitch.
