The list of sports events I would like to cover once before I die … is no longer a long one. I have been very lucky.

Not to say I haven’t missed some big events. But most of them I am not all that interested in seeing, as a journalist. The British Open. The U.S. Open (tennis or golf). The French Open. (Done Wimbledon and the Masters.) The cricket or rugby world cups. (Done soccer’s.)

The list of those I would like to see, while wearing a press badge, is down to two:

1. An NCAA men’s basketball Final Four.

2. An African Cup of Nations.

Americans will know the first.

They might be unaware of the second. But it is an event certain to be madcap, unpredictable and maybe more than a little dangerous, and that generally brings journalists running.

Tonight, I watched the African Cup of Nations final, Ghana versus the Ivory Coast. Live, from Bata, in Equatorial Guinea.

But first, some background.

This biennial tournament was supposed to have been played in Morocco. But then the Ebola epidemic took hold in three African countries, one of which (Guinea) looked likely to qualify for the tournament (and eventually did), and Morocco got nervous about hosting. So nervous it pulled out in November, leaving the African Cup without a home.

Up stepped Equatorial Guinea, a tiny country of 1.6 million that pumps a lot of oil. “Done!” said the Confederation of Africa Football. (Who later hammered Morocco for giving up the tournament, banning the Moroccans from the 2017 and 2019 tournaments and fining them $10 million.)

And off we went.

The tournament revisited several of the “African Cup” tropes. Stories about players getting paid (or not). Teams missing key, Europe-based players who came up with lame excuses for not joining their national team. Awful officiating. Uneven play. Ultra-conservative play.

Some very good teams were involved. The two finalists, but also Algeria (ranked 18 in the world by Fifa) Tunisia (22), Senegal (35), Guinea (39) and Cameroon (42), Mali (49) and Zambia (50) — all of them ranked higher than any team in Asia, Iran (51) being Asia’s best team, according to the January 2015 rankings.

The tournament was weird and haphazard, as it usually is. And low-scoring. Exactly one game in the 24 played in the group stage ended with a team scoring three goals. (Algeria 3-1 over South Africa.) Forty times (from a possible 48), group games ended with teams scoring 1 or 0 goals.

Mali and Guinea finished deadlocked for second in Group D, having each played three 1-1 games, which meant the insane concept of drawing lots would break the tie — in a high-profile event at a hotel — which put Guinea in the final eight and Mali in a slough of despond.

In the quarterfinals, one of the worst ripoffs in soccer history apparently happened in the hosts’ 2-1 extra time victory over Tunisia, considered by many the best team in the tournament. The referee (subsequently banned for six months) allowed the game to go to 11 minutes of added time, at which point said ref, a hapless man from Mauritius, awarded a penalty kick to Equatorial Guinea, which Javier Balboa converted (as all of Tunisia saw red), and Balboa scored again in added time as the hosts won, 2-1.

Tunisia’s players attempted to attack the ref as he left the pitch under armed guard. The ref got the ban, mentioned above, but Tunisia’s players were not sanctioned. (African Cup trope: Unfathomable disciplinary actions.)

In the semis, with Ghana on its way to beating the hosts, the crowd more or less rioted (“more” than “less”), and Ghana fans ran onto the pitch for safety as the Equatoguinean fans threw junk at them. The game was interrupted for 40 minutes as police and a low-flying helicopter moved in. The game resumed for, like, one minute, then was ended by the ref who, like most everyone, presumably just wanted to get out of the stadium.

The hosts were fined $100,000 by the African federation.

Ahead of the final came the usual African Football Confederation (CAF) denunciations of western media, and here we go to Agence France-Presse for specifics.

“The western media are simply here to perpetuate colonization,” CAF president Issa Hayatou said.

Ghana’s FA, which had initially described the stadium on Thursday as a “war zone” and the treatment of their fans as “barbaric”, quickly changed tune and their president Kwesi Nyantakyi put his name to a defiant statement issued by CAF’s executive committee.

“The 30th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations could only be held in Equatorial Guinea through interpersonal skills of the CAF President Issa Hayatou, who unfortunately has been subject of a biased derogatory press campaign,” it said.

The media apparently invented that 40-minute delay as well as Tunisian players’ attempt to attack the corrupt (or incompetent) ref.

So, on to the final.

Ghana and Ivory Coast have some of the world’s best players. Especially the latter, who boast Yaya Toure and his bother Kolo, Gervinho, Winfried Bony and Saloman Kalou. Ghana has Asamoah Gyan, Andre Ayew, Jordan Ayew, Kwesi Appiah and John Boye.

(U.S. fans should recognize some of the Ghana guys because the U.S. has played Ghana in three consecutive World Cups, twice losing.)

It made for a game of supreme (but ineffectual) athleticism, one that ended in a scoreless draw. They played another 30 minutes with no goals, with neither team apparently capable of a coordinated attack and their fans (both teams had thousands there) dying slow deaths from frustration.

It went to penalties, and Ghana looked sure to win when Ivory Coast put its first two outside the frame. But then Ghana missed twice, and it was 2-2. Each side had six guys march up and score, and it was 8-8 with only the goalkeepers left.

By now, all the players were close to physical and nervous collapse. Gervinho refused to watch, sitting at the far end of his team’s dugout and staring into the stands at the end away from the shootout. Nearly every player was praying for all he was worth, Christian or Muslim, leading to the theological question of … “if God or Allah were watching, which side would he prefer?” … and how complicated it would get, considering both teams had Muslims and Christians. Hmm.

Ivory Coast’s goalkeeper, a 35-year-old backup who had appeared near death about three times during the shootout, perhaps from cramps, perhaps from hysteria, got to the spot and banged home his goal, then switched positions with Ghana’s guy, who had never come close to saving anything in the shootout, who showed he was bad at taking penalties, too, sending out a slow one that was saved …

And that was that. After about 3.5 hours. Ivory Coast wins 9-8 in the shootout, and the country celebrated into the night, according to news reports.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s guys fell on their faces on the pitch. One of them, the Marseille midfielder Andre Ayew, wept so long and so hard that teammates had to drag him to the medals podium to get his silver medal, which he seemed to have no interest in. Never seen a professional athlete cry so long. Impressive.

Sepp Blatter was there to hand out medals. Of course. Fifa’s president counts on CAF backing to keep winning elections.

It was nutty, it was dramatic, it was unpredictable, it was fabulous and freakish and great fun, and I want to see one of these before I die — though seeing one might kill me.

The 2017 tournament already is controversial. It was awarded to Libya, which in 2012 had some issues you may recall — Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan president, was overthrown and killed, and the country has been in or near chaos since. Anyway, Libya has lost the right to host.

They reopened bidding, and CAF came up with a final four of Gabon, Ghana, Egypt and Algeria, but Egypt may be in no position to bid, given its recent history (like, this week) of violence (and death) around soccer stadiums.

That leaves Gabon, Ghana and Algeria, and which of those is safest is anyone’s guess. Which one is best capable of hosting, who knows?

But I would like to see it, two years hence. I need to figure out how.