The Ivory Coast have beaten Cameroon after a dramatic 24 penalty shoot-out victory over the ‘Indomitable Lions’, to send the ‘Elephants’ into the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations in Egypt. The game was forced into extra time, and penalties after the game ended 1-1.

In what was without doubt one of the mouthwatering ties of the tournament so far, the first 90 minutes of this meeting had little sparkle about it. Neither team looked like they were out for taking any gambles, and the game was a tired looking affair from the out-set.

Chelsea FC striker Didier Drogba had the first noteworthy chance of the game on 25 minutes when he latched onto a long ball in the box, but it saw Cameroon keeper Souleymanou Hamidou getting quickly off his line to block Drogba’s shot which on the rebound he wastefully sliced over the crossbar.

Cameroon's star striker, and current top-scorer in the tournament, Samuel Eto'o wasted a good opening on the half hour mark when he fired a free header straight at Jean-Jacques Tizie.

The Barcelona ace was unlucky not to break the deadlock six minutes before the break when he weaved his way into the box and saw his shot brilliantly kept out by Tizie.

The second half started off as a bitty affair, with both teams giving away unnecessary free-kicks throughout the first part of the second half as both teams looked like they were tiring.

Cameroon captain Rigobert Song almost broke the deadlock in the 55th, but the former Liverpool defender’s free-header went high of the bar.

With both sides lacking the quality in front of goal, the game seemed to break down, with neither side making any inroads, and the game lacking urgency, and often it was a case of hit-and-hope, especially from the Cote D’Ivoire.

Drogba had a snap-shot on goal that was easily saved, and minutes later Eto’o broke down the right wing for a corner, but yet again nothing came of it.

Arthur Boka had a free-kick for the Ivory Coast with 20 minutes to go, but blasted it wide of the Cameroon goal, and also Drogba broke free with fifteen minutes to go, but yet again was denied, with the unusually frail looking Cameroon defence eventually crowding him out.

Thimothee Atouba had a stunning shot in the last minute from 30 yards, which was tipped over by the Ivory Coast keeper, Tizie, who clattered into his own goalpost and was lucky to avoid injury, but that was that for the 90 minutes.

The game came to life in extra-time when Arouna Kone smashed a shot against the crossbar and Bakari Kone reacted quickest to loose ball to slot the ball home to give the Ivory Coast the lead.

Cameroon came close to drawing level just 60 seconds later when Geremi saw his long-range shot rebound off the crossbar.

The Indomitable Lions did grab the equaliser five minutes into extra time when Daniel Ngom Kome laid the ball into the path of Ze Meyong who placed his shot past Tizie.

This took the game to penalties, which turned out to be one of the most memorable penalty shootouts in any competition. In the shootout 22 consecutive penalties were scored, with every player on the pitch, including the goalkeepers, converting the spot-kicks.

With both sets of players having scored, it came back round to Cameroon’s first penalty taker, Samuel Eto'o, who remarkably skied his spot-kick over the crossbar, leaving Didier Drogba the chance to win the game for the Elephants, and he made no mistake, burying the spot-kick to spark crazy celebrations from the Cote D’Ivoire bench.

The Cote D’Ivoire will now face Nigeria in the Semi-finals of the competition, after Nigeria’s ‘Super Eagles’ beat the holders Tunisia in the other quarter-final.