08/02/2008 10:13

Ghana - Ghana coach Claude LeRoy and midfielder Laryea Kingston have blamed Moroccan referee Abderahim El Arjoune for the Black Stars 1-0 defeat by Cameroon in Thursday night' s semi-final match.

"The refereeing wasn't so clear. I do not like to speak about referees, but you cannot say it was a good referee today," LeRoy said after the game.

A subdued Richard Kingston also stated that the referee did not do a good job.

"We did our best, but the referee today did not balance the game."

And Leroy was unhappy that Cameroon did not try to play ball.

"We tried to win this game, but Cameroon had one chance and they scored. We are very disappointed today. I congratulate them, but I do not think they deserved to win. That is football and now we have to motivate ourselves to play the third place match."

Holders Egypt will play now play Cameroon in the African Nations Cup final on Sunday.

Defending champions

Egypt, who beat Ivory Coast on penalties in the final two years ago, thumped the Ivorians 4-1 in their semi-final in Kumasi last night.

Striker Amr Zaki scored twice in a space of five minutes to help defending champions Egypt to a stunning 4-1 win over Ivory Coast. Their first goal came from Ahmed Fathi and Mohamed Aboutrika added a fourth in injury-time.

Egypt were also helped by an inspired performance from goalkeeper Essam Al Hadari, who denied Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba a goal on three occasions with the score still at 1-0.

The Black Stars looked the best on the night but were stunned by a second half goal by Cameroon.

Ghana got off strongly but were soon denied the opener as Eric Addo arrived late at the far post to connect a free kick across the face of goal to the relief of the Cameroonians.

From then on, Ghana never held back as Michael Essien pushing from defence produced a class act for the Black Stars.

Emana Achille saw his long drive flying over the crossbar just as Andre Ayew's feeble effort in the 28th minute posed no problem for Idris Kameni in post for Cameroon.

Cameroon came close to finding the back of the net but Geremi's free kick from 30 yards out went off the crossbar as Richard Kingston looked on.

Counter attack

Ghana famed for their silky play increased the tempo in search for the opener but struggled to break through the Cameroonian back four built around Rigobert Song cleared the lines as the first half ended goalless.

A counter attack in the 70th minute saw Eto Fil's slip the ball into the path of Nkong Alain who took a few steps into the Ghanaian half before directing the ball to the far corner past Richard Kingston.

Cameroon were reduced to 10 as Andre Bikey had his moment of madness after violently pushing off a medic who was on the field to attend to injured defender Rigobert Song.

Despite the numerical advantage, time had run out for Ghana to force for a draw as the hope of a record-equalling fifth Nations Cup title was dashed.

Meanwhile, some Ghanaian football fans are currently lamenting the absence of President John Kufuor from the country on an official visit to Italy, saying it was a sign of bad omen before the game.

Kuffour who inspired the Black Stars when they beat Nigeria 2-1 on Sunday is in the Italian capital, Rome, for a World Food Programme assignment.