Badra suspension recalls past heartbreak for Ghana

TUNIS, Feb 12 - Tunisia captain Khaled Badra will miss Saturday's African Nations Cup final through suspension, recalling similar bans that caused heartbreak for Ghana in Senegal.

He will be the first captain to miss a Nations Cup final since Ghana's Abedi Pele, a three-time winner of the African Footballer of the Year award, was suspended for the 1992 final in Dakar.

Abedi, then at Marseille in France, was the pin-up boy of African football and images of him watching the final with a haunted expression from the sidelines are still frequently shown around Africa.

Ghana lost the final in a penalty shootout to the Ivory Coast.

In 1986, Egypt striker Taher Abouzeid picked up a second caution after celebrating the winning goal in the semi-final against Morocco and was due to be suspended for the final.

But the Confederation of African Football withdrew the caution after intense pressure from the Egyptian government on the eve of the final and allowed Abouzeid, now a television pundit, to play.

Egypt went on to beat Cameroon in the final in Cairo, also on post-match penalties.