January 19 – Comoros stunned Ghana 3-2 with their first-ever win at the Africa Cup of Nations to eliminate the Black Stars from the continental finals in the group stage.
El Fardou Ben Nabouhane handed Comoros the lead early on before Ghana were reduced to ten men when Andre Ayew was sent off in the 20th minute. Ahmed Mogni doubled the islanders’ lead, but Ghana rallied through goals from Richmond Boakye and Alexander Djiku to draw level.
But five minutes from time, Mogni ended Ghana’s hopes of stealing a win and qualification for the second round when he got his second goal of the evening to clinch a 3-2 win for Comoros.
The result eliminated the Black Stars from the finals. Ghana last won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1982 and in September they appointed coach Milovan Rajevac for a second spell after the Serbian led Ghana to the last eight of the World Cup in 2010. But the Ghanaians failed to ignite at the tournament, losing 1-0 to Morocco in their curtain-raiser and drawing 1-1 with Gabon.
Along with Gambia, Comoros were debutants at the tournament in Cameroon and after two defeats from two matches, they had little to play for in their final group game, but the result, scoring their first-ever goal and then registering their maiden three points, will go down as one of the major shocks in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations.
In third place with three points in Group C, Comoros retain an outside chance of progressing to the last 16. The top two in each of the six groups qualify for the second round along with the four best third-placed teams.
In the Group B match Guinea vs Zimbabwe, referee Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda made history by becoming the first woman to referee a match in the Africa Cup of Nations. In a commanding performance, she handed out six yellow cards. The officiating team was all-woman with Fatiha Jermoumi (Morocco), Carine Atemzabong (Cameroon), and Bouchra Karboubi (Morocco) as the VAR.
Mukansanga was also a referee at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
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