Fancied South Africa have been sent crashing out of the 2015 African Cup of Nations after going down 2-1 to Ghana.
The Black Stars turned around a 1-0 half time deficit to condemn Bafana Bafana to an ignominious winless exit at the foot of Group C.
South Africa started off positively in the first half as they absorbed early pressure from Ghana and they were rewarded with a beautiful goal from Kaiser Chiefs FC’s Mandla Masango in the 17th minute.
Coach Shakes Mashaba’s men kept the Ghanaians at bay for the remainder of the half as they took the precious lead into the half time break.
However, after the break the West Africans came back a rejuvenated side as they launched wave after wave of attack, putting the Bafana defence under immense pressure. The Black Stars were rewarded in the 73rd minute as John Boye, who plies his trade in the Turkish league, put pulled them level catching out a hesitant South African defence.
Bafana tried manfully to repel the Black Stars assault but struggled to string together meaningful passes, losing the ball regularly to an urgent Ghana midfield. With 10 minutes to go to the final whistle, Olympique Marseille’s Andre Ayew shattered South Africa’s slim hopes as he headed home the second and winning goal for the four-time African champions.
In the other Group C game, Algeria scored an unanswered goal in each half against group leaders Senegal to qualify for the quarter finals as runners up to Ghana. The days results conspired to drop Senegal, who headed Group C at the start of the day, to third place and out of contention.
Riyad Mahrez of Leicester City opened the scoring for the North Africans in the first half and despite the Lions of Teranga playing some enterprising football, an equaliser kept eluding them.
Spurs midfielder Nabil Bentaleb put the final nail in the Senegalese coffin as he fired home a second goal to see the Algerians comfortably through.
