Tunisia ended the Madagascar fairy-tale at the African Cup of Nations with a 3-0 bashing of the spirited island nation in the second semi-final match on Thursday.
Second half goals from Ferjani Sassi, Youssef Msakni and Naïm Sliti broke the Madagascar resistance after debutants held out the North African side for over fifty minutes.
Tunisia, who had yet to win in the tournament prior to the quarter-final took their time to click into gear, despite enjoying the vast majority of possession in the first half.
Wahbi Khazri came closest to opening the deadlock for the Eagles of Carthage, as his scorching free-kick from thirty yards was palmed away by Barrera keeper Melvin Adrien. It would prove to be the only chance of note in a half which was desperately lacking any clearcut chances.
The second half saw Alain Giresse’s side come out with renewed purpose and opened the scoring seven minutes from the restart in fortuitous circumstances. Ferjani Sassi cut in from the left wing and shaped to shoot, his effort rebounded off defender Thomas Fontaine, wrong-footing Adrien with the ball rolling into the net to hand Tunisia the lead.
Tunisia grew in confidence, pushing back Madagascar who had impressed many in their first ever AFCON tournament. On the hour mark, Tunisian captain Youssef Msakni put the contest beyond any doubt.
Wahbi Khazri, who was comfortably the most lively player on the pitch saw his snapshot palmed away by Melvin Adrien. Msakni was on hand to pick up the rebound beating two onrushing defenders before tucking the ball into the bottom corner.
Substitute Naïm Sliti added further gloss to the win scoring in stoppage time on the breakaway to rubber-stamp the victory to set up a semi-final clash against Senegal.
Earlier, Algeria defeated the Ivory Coast 4-3 on penalties in Suez Thursday to set up a semi-final showdown with Nigeria.
The quarter-final finished 1-1 after extra time with Sofiane Feghouli giving Algeria a 20th-minute lead that was cancelled by Jonathan Kodjia on 62 minutes.
In the shootout, Youcef Belaili struck the woodwork when he had a chance to clinch victory for Algeria, then Ivory Coast captain Serey Die hit the same post and his team were eliminated. – BeIN Sports.
