DR Congo shock Ghana to win African Nations Championship

Z_Ho

DR Congo shock Ghana to win African Nations Championship
ABIDJAN (AFP) - Democratic Republic of Congo shocked Ghana 2-0 Sunday to win the maiden African Nations Championship final.
Dioko Kaluyituka put the 'Leopards' ahead one minute into the second half at Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in the Ivory Coast economic capital and Mbenza Bedi added a second 14 minutes from full-time.
It was the first triumph for DR Congo in an African FootballConfederation (CAF) national team competition since they defeatedZambia 2-0 in a replay of the 1974 Nations Cup final in Cairo.
The result dashed Ghanaian hopes of a CAF national team titlecleansweep having won the Nations Cup four times, the youthchampionship three times and the junior championship twice.
Top seeds and pre-tournamnent favourites Ghana entered the final asthe team to beat having outclassed DR Congo 3-0 eight days ago in themini-league phase of a competition for local-based footballers.
               
                                Kaluyituka scored forthe third time in the tournament to finish runners-up behind five-goalZambian Given Singuluma while it was the first strike by Bedi.








                                                                        CHAN 2009 results and fixtures                                                       
                                                                                                                                        Fixtures and results of the 2009 African Nations Championship finals in Ivory Coast 22 February to 8 March.
Final:
08/03/09: Ghana v DR Congo (Abidjan)
Third place play-off:
07/03/09: Senegal 1-2 Zambia (Abidjan)
Semi-finals:
04/03/09: Ghana 1-1 Senegal (aet in Bouake)
Ghana win 7-6 on penalties
04/03/09: Zambia 1-2 DR Congo (Abidjan)


Group A
   
[tr=#ffffff][/tr]

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Zambia	3	1	2	0	4	1	5
Senegal	3	1	2	0	1	0	5
Tanzania	3	1	1	1	2	2	4
Ivory Coast	3	0	1	2	0	4	1

22/02/09: Ivory Coast 0-3 Zambia (Abidjan)
22/02/09: Senegal 1-0 Tanzania (Abidjan)
25/02/09: Zambia 0-0 Senegal (Abidjan)
25/02/09: Tanzania 1-0 Ivory Coast (Abidjan)
28/02/09: Ivory Coast 0-0 Senegal (Abidjan)
28/02/09: Zambia 1-1 Tanzania (Bouake)

Group B
   

[tr=#ffffff][/tr]

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Ghana	3	1	2	0	6	3	5
DR Congo	3	1	1	1	3	4	4
Zimbabwe	3	0	3	0	3	3	3
Libya	3	0	2	1	1	3	2

23/02/09: Ghana 2-2 Zimbabwe (Bouake)
23/02/09: DR Congo 2-0 Libya (Bouake)
26/02/09: Zimbabwe 1-1 DR Congo (Bouake)
26/02/09: Libya 1-1 Ghana (Bouake)
01/03/09: Ghana 3-0 DR Congo (Bouake)
01/03/09: Zimbabwe 0-0 Libya (Abidjan)