WRAPUP 1-Soccer-Home hopes end but Ghana still alive

By Mark Gleeson

LIBREVILLE Jan 5 (Reuters) - Home hopes crumbled for Gabon in the lottery of a penalty shootout at the African Nations Cup on Sunday but Ghana's hopeful search to end a long drought at the finals continued.

Mali beat co-hosts Gabon 5-4 on post-match kicks after extra time in Libreville to douse the passion of an expectant populace in first of the day's quarter-final encounters. The match ended 1-1 as Mali equalised just six minutes from the end.

Ghana, seeking their first Nations Cup title in 30 years, won the later game in the provincial town of Franceville, beating Tunisia 2-1 after extra time courtesy of a goalkeeping howler.

An embarrassing mistake by Aymen Mathlouthi left him devastated at the end of a tempestuous encounter but his grief was nothing like that of Gabon's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

The French-born striker, whose Mohican haircut, devastating pace and goal-scoring acumen has turned him into a national hero, was the only player to fail to convert in the penalty shootout that followed the draw in Libreville.

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Aubameyang, whose goals had fired Gabon into the knockout stages, had a meek effort in the shootout saved by Mali's Soumailia Diakite and left the field disconsolate, weeping on the shoulder of his father who was Gabon captain in the 1990s.

A near-capacity crowd at the Chinese-built stadium, newly constructed for the tournament, went silent as the realisation of their elimination sunk in.