Ten-man Ivory Coast batter Ghana to go through

Gervinho put the Elephants ahead on 23 minutes, before Siaka Tiene added their second six minutes past the hour mark.

Chelsea superstar Didier Drogba ensured the Ivoirians' superiority on 91, two minutes before Ghana's Asamoah Gyan pulled one back.

Emmanuel Eboue was sent in the 56th minute but an outnumbered Ivory Coast registered an emphatic win anyway.

Ghana, who are considered to be firm favorites for the title, have now to beat Burkina Faso to qualify for the next round.

Superior

The early minutes of the game were dull before Ivory Coast became superior.

Several long-range shots from Didier Zokora disturbed Ghana's backline but Richard Kingston blocked them all.

The Black Stars notably suffered from disorganization to help the Ivoirians tighten their grip on the game.

A counter attack was neatly finished off by Gervinho when he connected with a Benjamin Angoua low cross from inside the area.

Ghana roared back to form after 30 minutes and managed to create a host of clear-cut scoring chances.

Matthew Amoah rounded his marker to rifle a goal-ward shot from the edge of the area but Boubacar Barry produced a magnificent save to keep Ivory Coast's lead intact.

Ghana and Chelsea star Michael Essien was sent in at halftime, but his introduction didn't pay off.

Straight Red Card

Ivory Coast were coping with their opposition's onslaught when Eboue received a straight red card for tackling a challenger from behind.

Ghana seemed to be making use of their numerical advantage for a while.

Minutes after Eboue's dismissal, Amoah came close to restoring parity but his close-range volley hit the post.

While Ghana were keeping the upper hand, Tiene doubled Ivory Coast's lead with a curling free-kick from an acute angle.

The game's tempo slowed down afterwards with both sides unable to carve out more opportunities.

In stoppage time Abdul-Kader Keita eluded a couple of Ghana defenders back and forth before whipping in a precise cross that was headed home by Drogba.

Asamoah converted a penalty kick to score the consolation goal for Ghana seconds before the final whistle.