Zambia wins African Cup after penalty shootout

LIBREVILLE, Gabon - The Associated Press

Zambia soccer fans. AP photo

Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a nerve-racking final at Stade de l'Amitie.

Stophira Sunzu scored the deciding sudden-death penalty after Gervinho missed his spot kick for Ivory Coast.

It's Zambia's first African title and came, poignantly, in the same city where 18 Zambian internationals died in a plane crash in 1993 in the country's worst sporting disaster.

Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba had missed a 70th-minute penalty for the title favorite to send the dramatic decider to extra time and then a shootout.