African Cup of Nations/ Egypt 2 Angola 1: A fortunate bounce off the body of striker Amr Zaki was enough to ensure Egypt retained hopes of a successful African Nations Cup title defence with a 2-1 win over Angola in their quarter-final yesterday.
Zaki's 38th-minute goal proved the winner at Kumasi's Baba Yara Stadium, setting up a semi-final with the Ivory Coast at the same venue on Thursday.
Angola defender Kali failed to clear a cross from fullback Sayed Moawad and the ball spun right in front of goal, bouncing up just above the knees of Zaki and off him into the net.
Egypt had opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when Angola captain Andre jumped up to block a free kick on the edge of the penalty area and the ball hit his hand. Hosni Abd Rabou converted for his fourth goal of the tournament.
The lead lasted all of four minutes before Manucho thundered a cracking left-footed shot from outside the penalty area.
Egypt had a series of second-half opportunities thwarted by Angola goalkeeper Lama, who pulled off some fine saves.
"Angola played with tactics and great heart but we had a really good game. We are looking forward to playing the Ivorians and all our players are fighting to keep the title," said Egypt assistant coach Shawky Gharib.
Angola faded out of the contest in the closing stages of their first appearance in the quarter-finals. "We were not the lucky side today," said Angola coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves.
"We have built a team that has the strength to challenge the defending champions and we have already beaten some of the big sides on the continent. We are on the rise and Africa can count on us to be around for a while."
Angola will host the next Nations Cup finals in 2010.
The Kumasi semi-final will be a repeat of the 2006 final in Cairo, which the Egyptians won on penalties.
Nigeria have to accept they are no longer the soccer powerhouse of Africa, striker Peter Odemwingie said following their exit from the competition.
Sunday's 2-1 quarter-final defeat by Ghana meant Nigeria failed to reach the last four for the first time in five tournaments.
"Football has changed. We are used to being the big team of Africa but the game has changed. We can't afford to underrate anyone any more," he said.
The Lokomotiv Moscow striker, who played in all of Nigeria's games in Ghana, said they had lost concentration at vital times in their four matches at the tournament.
"We have a good team, we just have to learn to play together, we have to work harder," the 26-year-old said.
"We are all disappointed, we could have played much better." Odemwingie said Nigerian soccer still had a bright future despite the setback.
"We must not give up. There is always talent coming through in Nigeria, particularly with our young boys, who have done well in amateur competitions," he said.
EGYPT: Essam Al Hadari; Shady Mohamed, Hani Said, Wael Gomaa, Sayed Moawad (Mahmoud Fathallah 66); Hosni Abd Rabou, Mohamed Shawky, Ahmed Fathi, Mohamed Aboutrika (Ibrahim Said 91); Emad Moteab, Amr Zaki (Ahmed Hassan 71).
ANGOLA: Lama; Marco Airosa, Kali, Yamba Asha, Rui Marques; Andre, Maurito (Mendonca 46), Gilberto, Ze Kalanga (Mateus 73); Flavio (Edson 84), Manucho
Referee: Yuichi Nichimura(Japan)
