Ghana, Algeria Jet Into Semi Finals

History repeated itself yesterday as Ghana edged out host Palcangras of Angola out of the semi-finals with a 1-0 defeat to book a place in the semi-final race at the on-going 27th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations competition played at the November 11 Stadium, Luanda.
Similarly, Algeria came from behind to beat Cote d’Ivoire 3-2 to book a place in the semi finals of the competition.
The Angolans who had never gone beyond the quarterfinal stage in the history of the AFCON, again lost their semi-final ticket to their Ghanaian counterparts, the Black Stars at the quarter final game.
The match which saw the Ghanaians playing more organised and experimental game in the first half recorded its first and only goal at the 16th minute into play via a shot from a close range by Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan, after beating the Angola’s defender leaving goalkeeper Carlos to his fate.
The Black Stars sustained the tempo of their game as they struggled for more goals but all efforts made to increase their goal tally proved abortive, having missed most of their goal chances created through free-kicks and corners.
On the other hand, the Angolans who played free flowing ball lacked coordination, playing most of their games up, throwing them over the bar, forgetting that the Black Stars were prepared for Flavio’s header and so they marked him out of the game.
The Palcangras could not penetrate the defence of the Black Stars as they fought hard to level score line, this caused them to lose a lot of scoring opportunities.
At resumption of the second half, the Black Stars continued to soak in the heat from the Palcangras, thus subjecting the Ghanaian side to play defensive game in order  not to concede an equalizer. However, the match ended 1-0 in favour of the Black Stars of Ghana who by that feat earned a place in the semi finals of AFCON.