African Cup of Nations Review - Ivory Coast finally taste success again

It was penalty heartache again for Avram Grant

The tournament had its issues and the final was a snoozer but a dramatic penalty shoot-out with cheer up most football fans.

The Ivory Coast ended their 23-year wait for African Cup of Nations success by defeating Ghana in a penalty shootout on Sunday.

The pre-tournament favourites had to battle all the way for their success with goalkeeper Boubacar Barry proving to be the hero in a tense shootout.

We look back on The Elephants victory - just their second-ever Cup of Nations win - and review the tournament as a whole.

Unlikely Hero Barry

Veteran goalkeeper Barry lost his place in the Ivory Coast starting line-up during qualifying but was handed the gloves for the final when injury ruled out first-choice Sylvain Gbohouo.

The 35-year-old plays his football in Belgium and, having kept the Ghanaian's at bay for 120 minutes during the final, he was to prove the hero of the hour in a marathon penalty shootout.

It came down to a battle of the goalkeepers with Barry denying opposite number Brimah Razak before converting the crucial kick to give Ivory Coast a 9-8 victory.

Afterwards, the stopper paid tribute to former team-mates, insisting the success was reward for 15 years of hard work and building.

"This is the compensation for everything we've done since 2000, it's for the good of Ivory Coast," Barry said.

Earning his 86th international cap in the win, Barry admitted losing his place in the national team has been tough but insisted he was happy to play his role in the squad nonetheless.

"If you're called to represent the nation you need to come without hesitation," Barry said. "It's not been easy but I've worked hard and reaped the rewards."

Golden Generation Finally Delivers

For many observers, Sunday's win was a long overdue success for Ivory Coast.

In previous tournaments they have failed to cope with the burden of favouritism, losing out in the final in 2006 and 2012.

Although unable to make a breakthrough in the final itself, Yaya Toure was delighted to raise the trophy aloft and the powerhouse midfielder felt winning for his country was a step above anything that has gone before in his career.

"When you win with your club, it's quite amazing," Toure said. "With your country, it's unbelievable."

The final was a tense affair and in truth Ivory Coast made hard work of winning the tournament.

In the group stage they were forced to come from behind in 1-1 draws with Guinea and Mali before squeezing past Cameroon to top Group D with five points.

Wilfried Bony was the hero with two goals in the quarter final victory over Algeria while Toure and former Arsenal striker Gervinho were amongst the goals in the semi-final win over Congo.

As has often been the case with international finals, the showpiece game failed to ignite and was an often disjointed game as Ghana and Ivory Coast fought out a tactical affair.

History for Renard

Ivory Coast manager Herve Renard created history in becoming the first manager to win the African Nations Cup with two different countries.

The Frenchman led Zambia to success in 2012 - ironically with a penalty shootout success against Ivory Coast in the decider.

The 46-year-old only took charge of the Elephants in July of 2014 but Toure singled him out for special praise and revealed the demands that were made of him as skipper.

"Without the manager we would have won nothing," Toure declared. "He made things difficult for me. He told me if I didn't run he'd kick me out. He's fantastic."

Renard had warned his big-name players in run-up to the final that it could be their last chance of African Nations glory and he was rewarded with a victory that he dedicated to the Ivorian people.

Shootout misery for Grant

Ghana boss Avram Grant was once more left cursing the cruel nature of penalty shoot-outs.

Grant lost the 2008 Champions League decider to Manchester United when he was manager of Chelsea but he didn't put much stock in the theory he might be cursed.

"I don't believe in those kind of things," he responded when questioned afterwards.

The Israeli felt that practicing penalties is a futile exercise and pointed to the fact that the goalkeepers facing off against each other merely crystalizes the very nature of the shootout lottery.

"We did practise penalties on the day before the match, but it is not the same as when you take them in front of spectators," he said.

"Both sides had 11 kicks which meant it went down to the goalkeepers."

Ghana can count themselves unlucky to have lost a final in which they were the better side. Grant's team created the better of the chances and were twice denied by the woodwork.

Ghana had grown stronger through the tournament after losing their opening game against Senegal.

They had to come from behind in their final Group C encounter against South Africa with Marseille striker Andre Ayew netting a late winner.

The Black Stars were much too strong for Guinea in the last eight before overcoming hosts Equatorial Guinea 3-0 to book their place in the final.

Hosts outrun their odds

Despite being the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, Equatorial Guinea performed with credit on the field of play in their run to the last four.

A 2-0 win over Gabon ensured the hosts progressed behind Group A winners Congo in the quarter final.

The semi-final victory over Tunisia was the tournament's most controversial moment on the pitch, the hosts benefiting from a seemingly soft penalty award in second-half stoppage time to force extra-time.

Spanish-born forward Javier Balboa was the star turn for Equatorial Guinea and, having scored the penalty, he fired in a delightful free-kick form 25 yards to seal a famous win for the team ranked 118th in world.

It was quite an achievement for a team that were eliminated in qualifying before replacing Morocco as hosts at the eleventh hour.

Coach Esteban Becker was only installed 11 days prior to the start of Cup of Nations.