Ivory Coast coast into semi finals

Ivory Coast overwhelmed Guinea in the closing stages to triumph 5-0 in an African Nations Cup quarter-final Sunday and equal the record winning margin for the tournament. The 'Elephants' led 1-0 at half-time thanks to a Kader Keita goal and captain Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou (twice) and Bakary Kone were on target as Guinea fell apart. Ivory Coast thrashed Ethiopia 6-1 in the group phase of the 1970 Nations Cup in Sudan and although strongly fancied to defeat Guinea, they could hardly have imagined winning so comfortably. Next up for Ivory Coast are either defending champions Egypt or dark horses Angola in the semi-finals on Thursday with the odds favouring a second consecutive appearance in the final for Drogba and his stars. Ivorian fears that they would be without defensive kingpin Kolo Toure from English Premiership leaders Arsenal materialised as he failed to recover from a groin injury sustained in a group match against Benin.