Bata, Equatorial Guinea--The 58-year history of the Africa Cup of Nations is littered with dramatic knockout matches and AFP sport recalls five standout finals:
1972: Congo Brazzaville 3 Mali 2
Jean-Michel M'Bono scored twice and Francois M'Pele once for Congo in a seven-minute second-half scoring blitz to turn the tide after fellow final debutants Mali had taken a first-half lead in Yaounde.
1992: Ivory Coast 0 Ghana 0 (11-10 penalties)
It took 24 penalty shootout kicks in Dakar to separate the teams with defender Basile Aka Kouame the unlikely Ivorian hero as he converted the penultimate spot-kick and Tony Baffoe missed the next one.
1994: Nigeria 2 Zambia 1
Zambia, fielding a team created in less than a year after a plane crash wiped out the majority of the national squad, took a third-minute lead in Tunis only to be undone by an Emmanuel Amunike brace.
2000: Cameroon 2 Nigeria 2 (4-3 penalties)
Veteran centre-back Rigobert Song slotted the title-winning penalty shootout kick to settle a final in which Cameroon took a two-goal lead only for co-hosts Nigeria to score just before and after half-time in Lagos.
2012: Zambia 0 Ivory Coast 0 (8-7 penalties)
This was a story Hollywood directors dream of as Zambia triumphed after Ivory Coast missed a regular-time penalty in Libreville, where 19 years before a military plane carrying most of the national squad plunged into the sea killing all on board.
AFP
