Ghana took out the African Cup of Nations third-place playoff in Kumasi tonight with a 4-2 win over Ivory Coast.

Victory marked a positive end to Ghana's home tournament while the leaky defence that cost Ivory Coast a chance at the final reared its ugly head again.

But it took a come-from-behind effort on Ghana's part to win the match after trailing 2-1 at half time.

Second half goals from Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Junior Agogo and Haminu Draman saw Ghana streak to victory after a Boubacar Sanogo double had cancelled out Sulley Ali Muntari's first-half free kick.

With an injury to goalkeeper Boubacar Barry and recovering Kolo Toure rested from the match Ivory Coast displayed the defensive frailties which saw it beaten 4-1 by Egypt in the semi-final round.

With Ghana coach Claude Le Roy set to stay in charge for the Black Stars' 2010 World Cup Qualifying campaign, victory in front of the home fans will see his and the team's tournament end on a positive note.

Egypt will defend its African Cup of Nations title in the championship game after routing Ivory Coast 4-1 in Kumasi tonight.

Two goals from in-form striker Amr Zaki sealed victory for Egypt after with Abdulkader Keita's goal in between offering a glimmer of hope to the Elephants. 

Zaki's first goal appeared to close the door on Ivory Coast in the 62nd minute before Keita struck back almost immediately.

But within five minutes Zaki produced a sweet strike of his own to restore Egypt's two-goal cushion.

Mohamed Aboutreika iced the win with a goal in stoppage time, while it was Ahmed Fathi who opened the scoring for Egypt and gave it a 1-0 half time lead.

Ivory Coast endured a miserable night with goalkeeper Boubacar Barry leaving the game injured and Kolo Toure, rushed back from injury, well off his game.

After disrupting what had been a flawless centre-back paring of Didier Zokora and Marc Zoro, it was the latter who made way for Toure.

Ivory Coast now go to the game most of the experts predicted would be the final, but is instead a third-place playoff with Ghana in Kumasi on Saturday.

Egypt now defends its crown against Cameroon in Accra on Sunday.  

Ivory Coast blitzed Guinea late in the second half to win 5-0 and book an African Cup of Nations semi-final berth in Sekondi tonight.

Salomon Kalou struck a double for the Ivorians while Dider Drogba and Bakary Kone scored either side as four goals hit the net in 16 minutes.

Leading 1-0 at half time courtesy of a wonder-strike from Abdulkader Keita, the Elephants appeared to be cruising after the break as Guinea worked with a few half-chances.

With Pascal Feindouno in the stands suspended it was a lack of quality in the Guinea forward half that denied it a cutting edge.

And with Dianbobo Balde also out of the Guinea team, Ivory Coast met little resistance when it flicked the switch late in the second half.

The trigger point for the four-goal barrage was a glaring miss from Arouna Dindane in the 68th minute after a perfect through-ball from Yaya Toure allowed the winger to round Guinea goalkeeper Kemoko Camara.

Dindane shot into the side-netting, but it proved the last mistake of the match from a clinical Ivory Coast team.

Dider Drogba made it 2-0 on 70 minutes as he muscled around Kamil Zayatte and slotted past Camara.

Three minutes later Salomon Kalou's superior pace saw him dribble Camara and tap the ball easily into the empty net.

Yaya Toure then produced his own burst of speed down the left flank to tee up an unmarked Kalou in the six-yard box.

And the rout was complete when Kalou was given all the time in the world to tee up substitute Bakary Kone, who picked his spot and fired home a rocket from the edge of the area in the 86th minute.

Nigeria is through to the quarter-final of the African Cup of Nations after a 2-0 win over Benin in Sekondi tonight.

But the Super Eagles needed a favour from Ivory Coast to progress and the Elephants obliged beating Mali 3-0 in Accra.

Goals from John Obi Mikel and Aiyegbeni Yakubu in the second half opened Nigeria’s account at the tournament after going scoreless in the first two games.

While just a draw would have seen Mali through to the next stage, Didier Drogba’s early strike for the Ivory Coast gave his side an advantage it would not relinquish.

Drogba’s goal celebration after a cool finish in the ninth minute left the crowd in no doubt that the two had not agreed to play out a draw.

Mali’s avenue to goal was Frederic Kanoute, but its midfield peppered the Ivorian backline with harmless long-balls without ever threatening to score.

Kanoute was substituted at half time, coach Jean Jodar saying after the match his striker was injured.

In the second half centre-back Marc Zoro headed in a corner from Abdul Keita on 54 minutes to seal the win for the Ivory Coast.

Then in the 68th minute the game was made safe for the Elephants when Boubacar Sanogo finished from close range following up a parried shot from Yaya Toure.

With Kolo Toure injured centre-back pairing Marc Zoro and Didier Zokora dominated for Ivory Coast, while full-backs Emmanuel Eboue and Siaka Tiene barely raised a jog.

Ivory Coast will start hot favourite to defeat Guinea in its next match, while Nigeria meets host Ghana in the quarter-final.

Senegal coach Henri Kasperczak resigned and decided against taking up the impossible challenge his team faces in its final group game against South Africa.

According to the BBC Kasperczak's immediate resignation has thrown assistant coach Lamine Ndiaye into the hot-seat for the Teranga Lions' final game.

Kasperczak told the BBC he accepted responsibility for Senegal's poor showing but some players still believed his resignation was unexpected. 

But Senegal's flimsy defence could not hold its 1-0 lead against Angola yesterday with the 3-1 loss leaving it needing to win big against South Africa while receiving a favourable result in the Tunisia-Angola game.

In contrast, Ivorian defender Kolo Toure is in a battle to remain a part of the tournament after being assessed as having a grade-one groin strain.

While Toure's brief assessment of the injury after leaving the Ivory Coast-Benin match was that he would return after missing one match, it appears he will now be out for the quarter finals as well.

Arsenal's medical staff have been heavily involved in the process of rehabilitating Toure, insisting he fly from Ghana to Paris for their own assessment of his injury.

In disciplinary matters Egypt's Mohamed Aboutrika has been warned for displaying a political message on his undershirt during a goal celebration against Sudan on Saturday.

Aboutrika's shirt read "sympathize with gaza" in both English and Arabic.

Aside from the yellow card issued to Aboutrika during the game for the indisgression, no further action other than a warning has been taken by the Confederation of African Football.  

1 – Ivory Coast

A fully fit Kolo Toure will give the Ivory Coast strength in every department, with a host of goal-scoring threats.

2 – Egypt

The defending champion is getting among the goals but Cameroon did find a way through in the second half of the opening game. The Pharaohs could be exposed in the air.

3 – Tunisia

The Carthage Eagles have a knack of conceding soft goals but with its attacking players on song and Francileudo Dos Santos in particular finding the mark they will be a contender.

4 – Angola

The devastating Manucho will only command more attention from here, giving Flavio and Ze Kalanga more opportunities. With a well organised defence, Angola has the discipline to handle knock-out football.

5 – Nigeria

Although underdogs to progress form their group, the number of quality players in the Nigerian line-up could still find form. But more likely Berti Vogts will find the right combination of forwards to start scoring goals.

6 – Cameroon

Samuel Eto’o and Achille Emana are proving an effective partnership while Geremi has been inspired on the right flank. Poor defending has been Cameroon’s downfall and counts against them at this stage.

7 – Ghana

Although the hosts have not produced great performances, they are winning. Asamoah Gyan cannot be afforded too many games to find form while the as-yet unsighted Haminu Dramani could be a surprise attacking weapon.

8 – Morocco

Should the Moroccans progress the quality and experience in its side is there to turn around the bafflingly poor performance against Guinea. But what it will take is better defending.

9 – Mali

If Mali do progress to the knock-out stages they will have to find some attacking potence. Putting one goal past Benin and drawing scoreless with Nigeria is hardly going to have defences quivering.

10 – Guinea

With Pascal Feindouno suspended for the first knock-out game should Guinea make it, the avenues to goal are severely compromised.

11 – Senegal

Senegal’s defensive vulnerabilities were exposed by Angola and with El Hadji Diouf providing little up front do not look like progressing, never mind threatening.

12 – South Africa

Bafana Bafana has been decidedly uninspiring at this tournament and already needs a minor miracle to progress from the group stages.

13 – Zambia

Sitting ducks even if they pull of a miracle to progress. The defending against Cameroon was comical.

14 – Sudan
The lowest mathematical chance to progress to the knock-out stages and also yet to score a goal.
Already eliminated – Namibia, Benin

It was far from squirrel noise as Benin started night six of the African Cup of Nations with the loudest national anthem.

Almost like a trained choir, the strong Benin collection set themselves a standard that it couldn't quite match for the full 90 minutes of its 4-1 loss to the Ivory Coast.

Although its fans were split across three distinguishable groups, the Ivorians had a stronger and more consistent way of cheering on its team.

While one group of fans double-clicked like a heart beat, a thunder of drums came in from underneath.

With every attacking chance the heart-beat got faster, pounding excitedly every time the Elephants won a set piece.

While the Ivorian heartbeat continued deep into the second half, the squirrels went into hibernation.

They emerged upon the scoring of the game's only goal, but had been relatively quiet for the majority of the second half.

The Mali fans also had a similar approach to fan support as the Ivorians, but adopted a more driven beat.

Malian drums propelled its team forward, generating momentum rather than simply keeping a steady beat.

Nigeria on the other hand was far more instrumental.

Not just the air horns and one-tone trumpets coming from the Nigerian fans, but a full orchestra of harmonic noises urging on the Super Eagles.

Teo Pellizzeri, Takoradi-Sekodni Stadium

Salomon Kalou has stated his determination to play in Ivory Coast's match against Mali regardless of if the game is a dead rubber.

Kalou said the Elephants were unhappy with conceding a last-minute goal to Benin despite recording a 4-1 victory.

 "We want to go through the competition with a clean sheet," Kalou said.

"Conceding a goal in the last minute is always a bad feeling.

"What has been important is our strong team mentality and I feel we are working together to win games."

Kalou said it was up to coach Gerard Gili to decide if the Elephants' strongest team would play against Mali.

"I want to play," he said.

"I have come here to play every game."

Kolo Toure was assisted out of the ground with a pronounced limp and did not stop to speak to the assembled media.

Toure was stretchered off with a groin injury in first half stoppage time.

His only words offered were "next match" as he moved past, a promising sign for both Ivory Coast and relief for Arsenal supporters.

"I've spoken to him but I can't tell you anything about the injury," Kalou said.

"I hope that he will be ready for the second round."

Ivory Coast moved a step closer to the knock-out stages of the African Cup of Nations in Sekondi tonight with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Benin.

But the win may have come at a cost to the Elephants who lost centre back Kolo Toure on the stroke of half time to a groin injury.

After a tight opening half hour it was Benin's bravery to continue attempting the offside trap which cost it the opening goal.

Didier Drogba was threaded through by Yaya Toure in the 41st minute and finished cooly to open the scoring.

The Elephants made the most of the momentum and doubled their advantage before the long break, Yaya Toure tapping in to score after Arouna Dindane beat two defenders on the left byline and put a ball across the goalmouth.

Despite Kolo Toure's absence in the second half there was no threat of a Benin comeback, with man-of-the-match Dindane continuing to torment the Squirrels backline.

In the 53rd minute a poor goal kick from Benin goalkeeper Rachad Chitou fell straight to Abdul Kader Keita who had a simple run into the penalty area  and finish for 3-0.

Drogba then set up Dindane for the goal of the night as he controlled an overhit corner at the far post and crossed back into the six-yard box for Dindane to head home.

Benin captain Oumar Tchomogo was denied a goal with 10 minutes remaining by a fantastic flying save from Boubacar Barry.

But Tchomogo did put his name on the scoresheet in the first minute of stoppage time as ge headed in a cross from Stephane Sessegnon to give the Squirrels a belated consolation.

Teo Pellizzeri, Tarakodi-Sekondi Stadium