AFCON 2015: Day 12 Scores, Results, Standings and Africa Cup of Nations Schedule

In an odd turn of events, Ivory Coast were the only Group D team to book their spot in the quarter-finals of this year's Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday after beating Cameroon 1-0 in Malabo.

Guinea and Mali drew 1-1 in Day 12's other fixture, the third such result for each team in the tournament, which as Eurosport confirmed, means the qualifying team will be decided by random lottery on Thursday:

Ivory Coast managed to break the draw trend of the pool and end this stage as the only Group D team who managed to take a victory, Cameroon dropping out as the only outfit to suffer a loss among the four.

Read on for a look at the final group standings and results, along with a full schedule of the fixtures to come and recap of Wednesday's matches.

Date	Time (GMT/ET)	Stage	Fixture
Jan. 17	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Group A	Equatorial Guinea 1-1 Congo
Jan. 17	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Group A	Burkina Faso 0-2 Gabon
Jan. 18	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Group B	Zambia 1-1 Congo DR
Jan. 18	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Group B	Tunisia 1-1 Cape Verde Islands
Jan. 19	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Group C	Ghana 1-2 Senegal
Jan. 19	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Group C	Algeria 3-1 South Africa
Jan. 20	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Group D	Ivory Coast 1-1 Guinea
Jan. 20	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Group D	Mali 1-1 Cameroon
Jan. 21	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Group A	Equatorial Guinea 0-0 Burkina Faso
Jan. 21	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Group A	Gabon 0-1 Congo
Jan. 22	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Group B	Zambia 1-2 Tunisia
Jan. 22	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Group B	Cape Verde Islands 0-0 Congo DR
Jan. 23	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Group C	Ghana 1-0 Algeria
Jan. 23	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Group C	South Africa 1-1 Senegal
Jan. 24	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Group D	Ivory Coast 1-1 Mali
Jan. 24	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Group D	Cameroon 1-1 Guinea
Jan. 25	6 p.m./1 p.m.	Group A	Congo 2-1 Burkina Faso
Jan. 25	6 p.m./1 p.m.	Group A	Gabon 0-2 Equatorial Guinea
Jan. 26	6 p.m./1 p.m.	Group B	Cape Verde Islands 0-0 Zambia
Jan. 26	6 p.m./1 p.m.	Group B	Congo DR 1-1 Tunisia
Jan. 27	6 p.m./1 p.m.	Group C	Senegal 0-2 Algeria
Jan. 27	6 p.m./1 p.m.	Group C	South Africa 1-2 Ghana
Jan. 28	6 p.m./1 p.m.	Group D	Cameroon 0-1 Ivory Coast
Jan. 28	6 p.m./1 p.m.	Group D	Guinea 1-1 Mali
Jan. 31	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Quarter-Final 1	Congo vs. Democratic Republic of Congo
Jan. 31	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Quarter-Final 2	Ivory Coast vs. Algeria
Feb. 1	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Quarter-Final 3	Ghana vs. Runner-Up Group D
Feb. 1	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Quarter-Final 4	Tunisia vs. Equatorial Guinea
Feb. 4	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Semi-Final 1	Quarter-Final 1 Winner v Quarter-Final 4 Winner
Feb. 5	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Semi-Final 2	Quarter-Final 2 Winner v Quarter-Final 3 Winner
Feb. 7	4 p.m./11 a.m.	Third-place	Semi-Final 1 Loser v Semi-Final 2 Loser
Feb. 8	7 p.m./2 p.m.	Final	Semi-Final 1 Winner v Semi-Final 2 Winner

Group A	Team	PL	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Group B	Team	PL	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Group C	Team	PL	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Group D	Team	PL	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Congo	3	2	1	0	4	2	2	7
2	Equatorial Guinea	3	1	2	0	3	1	2	5
3	Gabon	3	1	0	2	2	3	-1	3
4	Burkina Faso	3	0	1	2	1	4	-3	1
1	Tunisia	3	1	2	0	4	3	1	5
2	DR Congo	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
3	Cape Verde	3	0	3	0	1	1	0	3
4	Zambia	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
1	Ghana	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
2	Algeria	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
3	Senegal	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4
4	South Africa	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1
1	Ivory Coast (Q)	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
2	Guinea	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3
3	Mali	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3
4	Cameroon (E)	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2

Cameroon 0-1 Ivory Coast

Max Gradel scored for the second time in as many matches to ensure Ivory Coast finish the pool stage at the Group D summit to set up a quarter-final tie opposite Algeria.

The 1-0 win over Cameroon saw the Elephants' drawing streak come to a happy ending, with WhoScored.com attesting to Gradel's prolific scoring ratio thus far at the competition:

Supporters will have been pleased to see a fixture in the group finally end with one team on the winning side, but as Duncan Alexander of OptaJoe states, it was far from a clean encounter:

That foul rate simply summed up how fiercely each team was willing to contend for their place in the next round, but Ivory Coast's defence was key to the result after finding the opener.

To cap it all off, John Bennett of the BBC supposed that Cameroon coach Volker Finke will inevitably be sacked from the position, having failed to earn any success at recent major tournaments:

Guinea 1-1 Mali

For 33 minutes of their clash against Mali on Wednesday, Guinea took a controlling stake in their bid for a place in the last eight thanks to Kevin Constant's 14th-minute penalty conversion in Mongomo.

However, it took Mali just three minutes to earn their chance at equalising after captain Seydou Keita was fouled in the box. The Roma man couldn't match Constant's feat, though, as Colin Udoh of ESPN confirmed:

For periods, it was a tetchy encounter between the quarter-final hopefuls, an understandable outcome given what was at stake for each team.

But just after half-time, West Ham striker Modibo Maiga, on loan at Metz, found himself unmarked at the back post to draw Mali level.

Maiga was one of the star performers for his team, but as OptaJean attested, this marked a first for him at the Africa Cup of Nations:

Play opened up as the two contenders entered the final minutes at Estadio de Mongomo, but it was too little too late as they were forced to share the spoils once again.

The teams will watch with bated breath as their fates are decided through a random drawing of lots on Thursday, one outfit set for bitter disappointment while the more fortunate party head through to the last eight.