It Was Well-Deserved Victory, Jose Peseiro

A lone strike by Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman was all Super Eagles of Nigeria needed to beat the Palancas Negras of Angola on Friday and qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals.

Lookman, a former England U-21 international, had scored both goals in Nigeria’s defeat of Cameroon in the last 16 and he made it three in two games as the Super Eagles claimed their third 1-0 victory of the tournament.

The goal came four minutes before the break at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, with Nantes winger Moses Simon collecting a pass on the left, accelerating away from Kialonda Gaspar and driving into the area before cutting the ball back for Lookman to finish.

That was enough for Nigeria to win through to their 15th Cup of Nations semi-final, which is more appearances than any other country.

Reigning African footballer of the year Victor Osimhen found the net with a quarter of an hour remaining but his effort was chopped off for offside and the Napoli striker is therefore still without a goal since Nigeria’s opening 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea.

Meanwhile, Angola had one golden chance to equalise just before the hour mark, when substitute Zini was sent through on goal but his shot came back off the post.

Nigeria have now kept four consecutive clean sheets, validating coach Jose Peseiro’s approach which has been based around making sure they do not concede goals first and foremost.

“They are a good team, but once again we didn’t concede. Once again we scored once,” Peseiro said.

“I would have liked to score more. With better finishing, we could have scored another one or two goals, but I am happy. My players deserved it.”

Nigeria advance to a last-four tie next Wednesday against Cape Verde or South Africa in the central Ivorian city of Bouake — those sides meet in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Angola, meanwhile, go home but this AFCON will be remembered as a success for the Black Antelopes, after they won a knockout tie at the tournament for the first time ever.

“We said among ourselves that if we got to the quarter-finals we would then try to win the tournament. Any team that comes this far has that ambition,” said Angola’s Portuguese coach Pedro Goncalves.

“We like to dream, but you also need to be realistic. The reality is that we were up against a very powerful side with players who play at the very highest level.”

Eighteen-Eleven Media