3 months ago
Ademola Lookman’s first-half strike was enough to secure a hard-fought 1-0 win for the Super Eagles against Palancas Negras of Angola in the quarter-finals of the AFCON 2023 at Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan on Friday, Completesports.com reports.
Lookman has now scored in back-to-back games after bagging a brace against Cameroon in the round of 16, taking his tally to three.
It was another impressive defensive performance by the William Troost-Ekong-led backline who have now gone four consecutive games without conceding a goal.
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First-choice goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali and Alhassan Yusuf made a return to injury.
Angola, who made their third quarter-final appearance and first AFCON clash with the Eagles, went into the game on the back of a nine-game unbeaten run.
Troost-Ekong made a timely block for a comer from a cross on four minutes to deny Angola an early advantage.
From the corner, Stanley Nwabali made a superb one-on-one save from a corner.
In the 15th minute Victor Osimhen connected with a cross with his head but the effort went just over the bar.
On 24 minutes Osimhen had another headed attempt from a Moses Simon cross but the keeper was well positioned to stop the ball from going in.
In the 36th minute, Osimhen headed down inside the box but no Super Eagles player was close enough to the ball.
The Eagles took the lead on 41 minutes as Simon broke on the left, and beat his marker before squaring for Lookman who volleyed into the roof of the net.
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In the first half’s added time the Eagles broke on the left through Zaidu Sanusi but the left-back failed to pass to his teammates inside the box.
Super Eagles had the first chance of the second half through Alex Iwobi whose left foot shot took a deflection and went off for a corner.
A few minutes later Lookman beat his marker inside the box but nobody was there to connect with his cutback.
In the 58th minute, Bassey had a big chance from a headed cross from Troost-Ekong but he couldn’t keep his header down.
Angola almost drew level on 60 minutes but substitute Zine’s effort hit the post after a brilliant defence-splitting pass.
Simon then went on a brilliant solo move inside the box on 62 minutes only to see his shot blocked.
The Eagles won a free kick in a good position for a foul on Lookman in the 65th minute but Sanusi’s attempt was well saved by the keeper.
Osimhen thought he had doubled the Eagles’ lead with a header off Lookman’s cross but it was disallowed for offside.
Osimhen had a big chance to make it 2-0 with less than 10 minutes left but his goal-bound strike was blocked.
With two minutes left in the game, Nwabali dived to his right to punch away a shot.
Deep in stoppage time a dangerous cross was well held by Nwabali.
By Adeboye Amosu in Abidjan
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