Late Zaha goal sends Ivory Coast into African Cup quarters

CAIRO (AP) — Wilfried Zaha’s late goal put Ivory Coast into the quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations after beating Mali 1-0 on Monday.

Zaha’s winner in the 76th minute saved Ivory Coast, which had been the second-best team for most of the last-16 game in Suez.

But Zaha took his chance when Mali’s players didn’t. He ran onto a long pass launched from the back and tucked his shot away after Mali’s defense failed to deal with the danger.

Mali had twice as many shots on goal as the Ivorians and dominated the first half.

Zaha’s goal saw Ivory Coast, the 2015 champion, progress to a quarterfinal against Algeria.

The last quarterfinalist will be decided when Tunisia plays Ghana later Monday in Ismailia.