It was like a repetition of last year’s consolidation match of AFCON when Mali settled much optimistic Ghana on the fourth place on Saturday. Black Stars finished their AFCON 2013 journey in the same fashion as they did last year. Mali secured third spot in the tournament which is not a bad performance either. Notably, Mali has not won any AFCON title in the last thirty years, and this year too, it could not overcome Nigeria in the semis, but despite that, even a third place in a tournament is not bad for any team. For Ghana, it is more than a defeat this time, coz they have been playing in the semis for last four years but could not win the title. This year, they were overshadowed by Burkina Faso in the penalty shootout in the semis. This is the first time Burkina Faso has entered into the finals of Africa’s highest soccer event. Factually, Ghana has won four AFCON titles till date and their last triumph was in 1982, while for Mali, their best of the event was in 1972 when they … [Read more...]