Ghana reached the African Nations Cup semi-finals for the sixth time in a row after brothers Jordan and Andre Ayew secured a 2-1 win over the Democratic Republic of Congo in a rough-and-tumble match on Sunday.
The goals came in a 15-minute second-half spell as Jordan Ayew put the Black Stars in front in the 63rd minute, Paul-Jose Mpoku equalised with a stunning long-range strike five minutes later before Andre Ayew’s penalty settled the match.
Ghana, who won the last of their four titles in 1982, will face Cameroon in the semi-finals on Thursday.
The match was punctuated by 46 fouls and Ghana defender Daniel Amartey was lucky to escape with a yellow card for a reckless challenge which sent an opponent flying into the air just before the decisive goal.
Ghana, missing injured captain Asamoah Gyan, barely mustered a shot on goal in the first half and nearly fell behind in the seventh minute when Dieumerci Mbokani pounced on a mistake but hit the post from a difficult angle.
Mbokani also had another effort saved by Brimah Razak late in the half as DR Congo threatened an upset.
Ghana showed much more purpose after the break and DR Congo goalkeeper Ley Matampi made his first difficult save in the 51st minute when Mubarak Wakaso’s free kick bounced awkwardly in front of him.
Wakaso set up the first goal when he won possession in DR Congo’s half and slipped the ball to 25-year-old Aston Villa forward Jordan Ayew who held off his marker and curled the ball past Matampi from the edge of the area.
DR Congo hit back five minutes later when they caught Ghana napping with a quickly-taken free kick. The ball was passed to Mpoku who scored with a 30-metre shot which swerved away from Razak.
With the game on a knife-edge, Christian Atsu burst into the Congolese area and went down under a clumsy challenge by Joyce Lomalisa. Ghana’s West Ham United striker Andre Ayew, 27, made no mistake from the spot as he sent Matampi the wrong way.
Ghana never looked comfortable at the back and still had to survive some nervy moments.
Substitute Cedric Bakambu gave the DR Congo attack added bite and forced a fine save from Razak with a shot from the edge of the area, but also wasted two other chances when he failed to hit the target.
