Wed, 08 Feb 17:54:00 2012

Ghana paid the penalty as Asamoah Gyan saw a penalty saved before Zambia scored with their only attack of the second half in a 1-0 win in their African Cup of Nations semi-final in a sodden Bata.

Zambia_Ghana_Coppa d'Africa_2012 - 0

It could have been all very different for Ghana if Gyan had tucked away his spot-kick after Davis Nkausu had taken out Kwadwo Asamoah with a late challenge in the box on eight minutes.

Mweene dived to his left to complete a fine stop. Ghana huffed and puffed, but could not blow Zambia’s house down with Mayuka’s goal enough to provide Zambia’s gateway to the final on Sunday when they bid for a first win in the African Cup of Nations final.

They were losing finalists in 1974 in Egypt and in Tunisia in 1994, but will hope to go one better in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Derek Boateng was red carded after picking up a second yellow card in the final 10 minutes, but the writing was already on the wall for Ghana at that stage.

Zambia will return to the Gabon capitial of Libreville for the final 19 years after their national squad was tragically wiped out when a plane crashed heading towards Dakar for a World Cup qualifier with Senegal in 1993.

Under coach Herve Renard, they are certainly physically strong enough to provide a stern test for Ivory Coast or Mali in the final.

Eurosport

.