Equatorial Guinea fans extend their frustration to Ghanaian fans and players in AFCON Semis.
The game was halted for almost 40 minutes as bottles were thrown on the pitch. Many Ghanaian fans rushed out onto the pitch for safety. Riot police had to use tear gas to clear out the stadium as a helicopter hovered around.
Ghana vs Equatorial Guinea
When the game finally resumed, Ghana kept their 3-0 lead to beat host Equatorial Guinea to set up a mouth watering encounter with the Ivory Coast who beat DR Congo by 3-1 earlier.
The Ghanaian players had to be protected by riot police before they could make their way down the tunnel at half time. The Equatorial Guinea fans threw objects at the players and the referees. At this point the score line was 2-0 in favour of Ghana.
The second 45 minutes was halted eight minutes to time when Ghanaian fans rushed out of the stands to seek some kind of safety on the field. This was because home fans had started attacking them in the stands.
An announcement was made in the stadium by Confederation of African Football (CAF) and threatened to call off the game if the fans did not stop attacking the Ghanaians.
Captain of Equatorial Guinea Emilio Nsue and his players also tried to talk their fans into calming down but to no avail. A helicopter flew just 20-30 meters above the heads of troubling home fans to intimidate them. The fans of the host kept on throwing bottles and stones at the Ghanaian fans. The police then had to move in with tear gas and batons to move fans out of the stadium.
The stadium was cleared and Ghanaian fans were ushered to an empty section of the stadium. Play resumed from there on and the final three minutes were seen out by both teams.
It is so disappointing to see what had been a great tournament so far have this mark left on it. Football is suppose to be peaceful and this is not what we need.
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