Ghana duo Asamoah Gyan and Andre Ayew lit-up day eight at the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday to push the Black Stars virtually through to the knockout stage.

Ayew and Gyan earned the 2010 World Cup quarter-finalists a 2-0 win over Mali to leave them leading Group D on six points.

But the group will go down to the wire as any one of their three rivals, Guinea, Mali or even pointless Botswana, could still theoretically bag a last-eight place.

The final throw of the dice for the Group D teams comes on Wednesday with Ghana requiring just a draw from their encounter with Guinea in Franceville, with Mali heading off to the Gabonese capital Libreville to face Botswana.

Gyan had Ghana off the mark in the 63rd minute when he curled a free-kick past goalkeeper Diakite.

Then he was instrumental in the second when his back-heel in the 76th minute set up Ayew who wrong-footed the Mali defence to unleash an unstoppable shot past the keeper.

“We had a few difficulties in the first half, but the boys showed strong character and we changed tactics and put pressure on them to make mistakes in the second half,” said Gyan.

Ghana’s win followed a record-equalling performance by Guinea, who routed Botswana 6-1 in the first leg of the Group D double bill in Franceville.

Guinea matched the record victory margin for a Nations Cup game and they are only the third team after Egypt in 1963 and Ivory Coast in 1970 to have scored six goals in a tournament match.

Goals from Sadio Diallo, who notched a double, Abdoul Camara, Ibrahima Traore, Mamadou Bah and Naby Soumah earned Guinea the lopsided win against a side that had been reduced to 10-men when Patrick Motsepe was red carded in first-half stoppage time.

Guinea coach Michel Dussuyer said it was crucial they won so as to get their campaign back on course.

“We needed to win because we don’t want to go back home. We were not lucky against Mali, but we were very satisfied we scored many goals in this game,” said the Frenchman.

“Botswana showed in their qualifiers they are a good team and so to score six goals against them was very satisfying for my team.”

Monday’s program moves across the border to Equatorial Guinea where the already-qualified Cup co-hosts take on Zambia in Malabo and Libya face down and out Senegal in Bata.