Zambia to write history on the ruins of Drogba generation

Zambia team wrote history of his country with winning the African Cup of Nations title for the first time after defeating Côte d'Ivoire on penalties after the end of a goalless draw and extra time on Sunday.

Zambian national team and won the first championship in its history in the competition which was held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012 after losing the final of this competition by the years 1974 and 1994. Zambian national team dedicated winning the championship to the memory of Zambian team that has fallen victims to a plane crash in Gabon in 1993.

Zambian national team eliminated the ambition of Didier Drogba, 33-year-old and his colleagues in achieving the championship, in order to be written of the current generation of the elephants. This tournament is considered as the last hope for many of the golden generation of Côte d'Ivoire, who rose for the World Cup on two occasions.

The superiority of the Zambian national team in a penalty shootout after the final score 8-7. Gervinho and  Kolo Toure of Côte d'Ivoire missed, and Rainford Kalaba of Zambia missed his one too. For the fourth time the current generation of Ivory Coast failed to win the African Cup of  Nations after losing the final for Egypt in 2006 edition, knocked out of the semi-final of 2008 edition by Egypt, and also the 2010 edition of the quarter-finals match against Algeria.

Drogba refuses to win!!!

In the first half, The game began with pressure from Zambia soon calmed down and turns full control to the Ivory Coast team by the middle of the first half, but in vain.

In the second half, the Ivory Coast team continued pressure until the referee awarded a penalty in favor of Gervinho in the ​​69^th minute, but Drogba overthrew the ball over Zambian goal. Max Gradel came close to score the winning goal for the elephants in the 88^th minute, but his shot has passed beside the left of the Zambian goal.

Extra time and penalty shootout

Zambian team was so close to win the title in extra time when Christopher Katongo received a cross from the right wing and shoot it directly to the Ivory Coast goal, but the left sidebar of the Ivorian team sent the ball away.

And then, the game calmed down and went to penalties which ended the game with a victory for the Zambian team that won its first African Cup of Nations title on 2012 edition.