Ivory Coast beat Ghana 3-1 to be the first quarterfinalist at the African Cup of Nations Friday. Ivory Coast, down to 10 men after Emmanuel Eboue was sent off in the 56th minute, has four points from two games in the tapered Group B, enough to guarantee a spot in the knockout phase. Ghana, which was playing its first game following Togo's withdrawal, will meet Burkina Faso next Tuesday in a winner-takes-all match. Each of the three teams will play only twice in Group B after Togo withdrew following a deadly attack against its team bus before the tournament started. Gervinho, Siaka Tiene and Didier Drogba scored for Ivory Coast, and Asamoah Gyan replied for Ghana in injury time. Ivory Coast coach Vahid Halilhodzic started without striker Baky Kone, who was replaced by Salomon Kalou after missing three clear chances against Burkina Faso. Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien was left out of Ghana's starting lineup after a late arrival in Angola due to bad weather in England. He was sent in after halftime for his first action in a month following a hamstring strain. Didier Zokora created his team's first chance but his shot was easily blocked by Ghana captain Richard Kingson in the 17th. The midfielder was more efficient two minutes later, forcing Kingson to palm the ball away with a good save. Ivory Coast went ahead following a swift counterattack launched by Gervinho, with the playmaker also at the conclusion to tap into an open goal from Kalou's precise cross in the 23rd. Ghana too often wasted ball possession and failed to create clear chances until midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah unleashed a powerful shot from 20 meters between two defenders, only to see his effort beautifully saved by Barry in the 38th. The Elephants' hopes were dealt a blow when defender Eboue was shown the red card for an ugly foul on Opoku. Mathew Amoah took advantage of defender Kolo Toure's bad clearance to drive his volley on the post. Ivory Coast looked in trouble but Tiene then superbly bended in his free kick to leave Kingson helpless in the 67th. Essien had a good chance to narrow the gap in the 87th but missed the target with a low shot, before Kader Keita served up a superb cross from the left side for Drogba, with the striker heading home in the 90th. Gyan scored a consolation goal from the spot in injury time.
