The Ivory Coast could be on their way to winning the 2012 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. Gervinho scored an amazing goal in the semi-final match against Mali to book a place in the finals. However, Zambia will give The Elephants a tough competition after they managed to beat pre-tournament favourites, Ghana, in the semis. The finals will take place on Sunday, 12 February 2012.

Third Place: Mali Vs Ghana

After a disheartening defeat to Zambia in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, Ghana, the quarter-finalists of World Cup 2010 will face Mali for the third place match. Ghana started off the Africa Cup of Nations 2012 as favourites and reached the semis but they could not get past Zambia.

Ghana will aslo have to deal with the absense of some of its key players, captain John Mensah (thigh) and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (knee) injured and Derek Boateng and John Boye are both suspended.

The task for Ghana has been cut-out and it won’t be easy playing Mali who will be looking for revenge after losing group stage matches to the same opponents. This is the fourth consecutive loss at the semi-finals at the Africa Cup of Nations for Mali since their debut in the tournament.

The Togo Football team are in Angola to participate in the Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on Sunday. However, after this severe attack the tournament might postponed or called off. Togo may pull out of the tourney after two of their players were injured. The attack lasted for around 15 to 20 minutes. Togolese and Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor is safe but is visibly shaken by the terror strike.

Togo National Team

The team will decide whether they want to continue with the tournament or not. Defender Serge Akakpo was injured with about 2 bullets in his back. His condition is said to be stable. The other player injured was goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale, a bullet pierced his kidney.

This terror attack has also cast a shadow over the World Cup finals which are set to be held later this year, in June, in South Africa.

One of the team members commented:

“We had just crossed the border. We had filled in the border formalities and were surrounded by police. Everything was fine. Then there was a powerful burst of gunfire. Everyone dived under the seats and the police fired back.”

“It felt like war had broken out. It’s shocking. When we got off the bus we were asking ourselves what was up. The official in charge of communications also stopped a bullet – he lost a lot of blood.”

Togo are supposed to play Ghana on Monday.