Elephants on a charge in Angola

Ivory Coast 3 Ghana 1

Gervinho finished off a fluid counter-attacking move after 23 minutes to give Ivory Coast the lead, but they were reduced to 10 men after 55 minutes when Arsenal’s Emmanuel Eboue was shown a straight red card for a reckless two-footed tackle.

Tiene netted a stunning left-footed free-kick after 66 minutes and Didier Drogba headed in a 90th-minute third.

Asamoah Gyan converted a penalty with the last kick of the game, but it was not enough to prevent the Elephants from progressing to the quarter-finals.

Ghana must beat Burkina Faso next Tuesday to join Ivory Coast in the last eight of the competition.

IVORY COAST: Boubacar Copa, Eboue, Toure, Bamba, Tiene, Tiote, Toure Yaya (Fae 71), Zokora, Gervinho (Demel 60), Drogba, Kalou (Keita 84).

GHANA: Kingson, Inkoom, Addo, Vorsah, Andre Ayew (Gyan 46), Narry (Essien 46), Rahim Ayew, Asamoah, Agyemang-Badu, Amoah, Opoku (Afful 77).

Referee: Jerome Damon (South Africa).