Africa Cup of Nations
Result: Ghana 1-0 Mali
Date: 21 January 2017
Venue: Stade de Port-Gentil
Asamoah Gyan's first-half strike was enough to hand Ghana a 1-0 victory over Mali and secured their spot in the AFCON knockout stages.
The Black Stars had the chance of taking the lead in the 17th minute Asamoah Gyan skipped past two players, before picking out Andre Ayew, who drilled his effort wide at the near post.
Ghana broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute, as Asamoah Gyan rose well to head home Jordan Ayew's cross, 1-0.
Mali, meanwhile, struggled to pose any threat to the Ghanaian defence failed to register a meaningful effort at Brimah Razak's goal.
The score remained 1-0 to the Black Stars as the sides entered the halftime break.
Mali looked livelier in the second half, as they went close with Coulibaly and Doumbia in the opening 15 minutes.
Alain Giresse went close to grabbing an equaliser in the 70th minute, but Traore's volley from 25-yards out sailed into the side-netting.
Mali nearly leveled matters in the 90th minute, but Brimah produced a superb save to keep out Moussa Doumbia's volley from close range.
Ghana managed to hold on for the win and have now qualified for the knockout stages.
