The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations has reached the quarter-final stage and the first of those took place in Abidjan on Friday evening, with Nigeria knocking out Angola after a 1-0 victory.
It’s now four clean sheets in a row for the Super Eagles, who look defensively solid and to have a platform for success, despite possessing some of the best attacking talents with the likes of Victor Osimhen in their squad. Tonight though – as in the round of 16 – it was Ademola Lookman who scored the winner, netting in the first half for what turned out to be the only goal of the game.
Osimhen did find the back of the net but saw his goal ruled out for offside, while Angola rarely threatened to find a late equaliser in truth. Nigeria will play South Africa or Cabo Verde in the semis. Follow all the reaction to Nigeria vs Angola below and get all the latest Afcon odds and tips here.
As it is, Nigeria Super Eagles are through to the semi-finals! But there are no wild scenes of celebration like their victory over Cameroon.
This was a grind and some of the players have dropped to the floor exhausted. Nigeria have never completely clicked into attacking gear at this tournament, but it doesn’t matter if they keep progressing.
While the winning margin was very tight, Nigeria are deserving of their place in the semi-final.
Angola gave it everything, but their opponents just had too much quality.
Lookman’s goal was the difference on the scoreboard, but the Nigeria defenders were superb as they hardly allowed Angola any chances throughout the 90 minutes.
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