By Alan Duffy
Fair dues to Equatorial Guinea for stepping in at the last minute to host the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, but my word did the authorities make an unholy mess of Thursday’s night’s semi-final between Ghana and the hosts.
With the Black Stars 3-0 ahead and cruising towards a mouth-watering final clash with Cote D’Ivoire, a section of the Equatorial Guinea fans started to rain bottles down on both the nearby Ghana fans and the pitch itself. The Ghanaians, sensing danger, sensibly walked out of the stands and down beside the pitch, a move which saw the match halted on 82 minutes.
What unfolded next was a bit of a farce, with the CAF officials taking all of 30 minutes to come to a final decision on whether or not to officially abandon the games. With a polic helicopter hovering over the stadium and the troublemakers leaving the ground, the Ghanaian fans were lead down the players’ tunnel and out of the ground by the police. Then, the officials ordered the players to clear the pitch of all those bottles before both sides played another five minutes in a mostly empty stadium. And that was, bizarrely, that.
One can’t see Equatorial Guinea getting to hosts another AFCON for a while but at least we do get to witness what should be a cracking final!
(Photos: Getty Images)