Newly crowned Afcon champs’ date with destiny fulfiiled.

A contender for the goal of the competition from Arsenal forward Gervinho against Mali on Wednesday put Côte d’Ivoire into the Afcon final.

Zambia captain Christopher Katongo thinks the team’s impressive march to the semifinals of Afcon is "payback time" for a six-year development plan.

Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are on course to meet in a showpiece final at Afcon, with only Mali and Zambia able to prevent the eagerly awaited showdown.

Burkina Faso must stop conceding soft goals if they are to have any hope of defeating Côte d’Ivoire and getting their Afcon campaign back on track.

Tunisia has taken the Maghreb derby honours, a 2-1 defeat of Morocco putting them alongside Gabon at the top of Group C in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Côte d’Ivoire has begun its quest for a second Afcon title with a 1-0 victory over Sudan, while over in Group B, Angola has beaten Burkina Faso 2-1.

Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana have their best chance in years of ending long waits for another African Cup of Nations title.