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Ghana reached the final of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations with a lone goal victory over archrivals Nigeria in their semi-final clash on Thursday in Luanda.
Striker Asamoah Gyah scored the only goal of the match from a cornerkick to ensure the Ghanaians claim their place at the last two for the first time since 1992 in Senegal. Though a not an inspiring performance from the Black Stars, they managed to hold on to their thin lead to reach the tail end of the journey at the 27th edition of the biennial championship.
The game marked the first for Ghana midfielder Anthony Annan at the tournament and for Nigeria striker Obafemi Martins, his first start of the competition. The Black Stars as usual as and true to their in previous games allowed the Nigerians to do all the kicking, whilst they laid back hoping to catch them on the brakes.
The Super Eagles stringed passes together, making clear their intent but lacked the firepower upfront as the Ghanaian defensive pair of Isaac Vorsah and Lee Addy weathered the storm.
On 20 minutes, Asamoah Gyan broke deadlock by heading in from Kwadwo Asamoah’s corner-kick in what was the first attack of the Black Stars. The Asamoah-Gyan link has gradually turned into the weapon of the Ghanaians as the combination yielded the only goal during their quarter-final clash with hosts Angola.
Gyan attempted to consolidate his side’s lead four minutes later but his deceptive curler after spotting Nigerian goalie Vincent Enyeama off his line missed narrowly.
The Super Eagles will respond three minutes afterwards, but Ghana goalie who limped throughout the half scored full marks by stretching to parry wide Martins’ goalbound shot from the penalty area.
Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac was forced to vary his tactics on the half hour mark as winger Opoku Agyemang was replaced by Haminu Draman, yet the Nigerians couldn’t make the most of their dominance. The pattern of the game remained same with the Nigerians on top, with Martins, Chinedu Obasi and John Obi Mikel making shots at goal in the early minutes.
With Ghanaian midfield fictional, Nigeria coach Amodu fortified his attack with the introduction of Victor Obinna Nsofor and Yakubu Aiyegbeni for Yusif Ayila and Peter Osaze Odemwingie; whilst their presence added more bite to the attack, the equalizer remained vague.
Source: CAF
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