DR Congo and Equatorial Guinea have both qualified for the semifinals of the 2015 African Nations Cup tournament.
In the most bizarre of circumstances , host country Equatorial Guinea will have the referee to thank for aiding their path to victory in their 2-1 win over Tunisia.
It was a day filled with lots of intrigues and surprises as there were shocking scenes in both matches played.
Tunisia silenced the home team after Ahmed Akaichi gave them the lead, and they held on to that lead which looked to be able to win them the game.
But the moment of controversy came when the referee awarded Equatorial Guinea a bogus penalty deep into stoppage time.
It was obvious that the referee invented the spot kick as there was no contact whatsoever to have warranted the penalty.
Javier Balbao stepped up to convert the kick to force extra time. The penalty deflated Tunisia, and their play just summed up what the penalty did to their psyche.
The Carthage Eagles never recovered and ended up conceding a second goal through Balbao’s unstoppable free-kick in extra time.
A melee ensued afterwards, with the distraught Tunisian players rushing after the Mauritian referee, Rajindrap Arsad Seechurn , but was protected by Riot Police.
Tunisia will look back at the game and feel hard done with the manner they lost, knowing that the referee was unfair to them.
On the part of DR Congo, they won the battle of names and that of fight on the pitch as they came from two goals down to beat Congo Brazzaville.
All the six goals in the game were scored in the second half, as Congo DR staged a remarkable comeback in the victory.
Ferebory Dore and Thievy Bifouma put Congo 2-0 up and it looked like it would be a routine victory for Claude Le Roy’s team, but they caved in to concede four goals.
Two goals by Dieumerci Mbokani in between the goals scored by Jeremy Bokila equalised and Joel Kimuaki completed the comeback to qualify for the last four.
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