Nigeria vs. Angola final score, result, highlights as Lookman fires Super Eagles into AFCON semifinals – Sporting News
Ademola Lookman maintained his superb African Cup of Nations form by giving favourites Nigeria a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Angola.
Atalanta winger Lookman scored both goals as the Super Eagles downed rivals Cameroon in the last 16 and he smashed home Moses Simon’s low cross four minutes before halftime in Abidjan.
Nigeria were largely in control of the action but Angola showed why they have been such a vibrant free-scoring presence in the tournament hosted in the Ivory Coast, as they twice went agonisingly close to scoring.
Mabululu almost netted his fourth goal of the competition during the opening minutes when he drew a superb save from Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali. Substitute Zito then hit the post before the hour.
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Jose Peseiro’s side thought they had made sure of their place in the semis with 15 minutes to play when Victor Osimhen converted Lookman’s free-kick but replays showed the Napoli man had done so from an offside position.
Nevertheless, Nigeria avoided any major late scares to stay on course for a fourth continental championship. They will face either Cape Verde or South Africa in the semifinals.
Lineups:
Nigeria (3-4-3, right to left): 23. Stanley Nwabali (GK) — 21. Calvin Bassey, 6. Semi Ajayi, 5. William Troost-Ekong — 17, Alex Iwobi (4. Alhassan Yusuf), 8. Frank Onyeka (10. Joe Aribo), 2. Ola Aina, 3. Zaidu Sanusi — 15. Moses Simon, 9. Victor Osimhen (19. Paul Onuachu), 18. Ademola Lookman (22. Kenneth Omeruo).
Angola (4-3-3 right to left): 1. Antonio Signori (GK) — 21. Eddie Afonso (18. Jeremie Bela), 6. Kialonda Gaspar, 3. Jonathan Buatu, 13. To Carneiro — 16. Fredy Ribeiro (17. Bruno Paz), 23. Show, 20. Estrela (9. Zini) — 7. Gilberto (15. Zito), 19. Mabululu, 10. Gelson Dala (11. Milson)
Former England Under-21 international Lookman has endured a nomadic career since breaking through as a teenage star at Everton. Stints at RB Leipzig, Fulham and Leicester followed before he left the Bundesliga side on a permanent basis to join Atalanta in August 2022.
Lookman also switched allegiance that year to represent Nigeria and it feels fair to say he hasn’t looked back. The 26-year-old has seven goals in 18 Serie A appearances this season and is responsible for all of the Super Eagles’ knockout goals in this tournament.
Lookman, in tandem with Simon, made for an electrifying combination down the flanks at times and gave evidence of why AC Milan’s Samuel Chukwueze is kicking his heels on the bench.
If Osimhen can join in the fun then it becomes hard to see anyone topping Nigeria. The star striker has not scored since the tournament opener against Equatorial Guinea — a significant drought for a man who has 20 goals in 28 international appearances. Along with his offside effort, Osimhen managed four attempts inside the box without reward at the Felxi Houphouet-Boigny Stadium.
FT in Abidjan. We are in the semis pic.twitter.com/gDsxOssj4T
Handily, since Osimhen stopped scoring goals, Nigeria have stopped conceding them. It’s now four clean sheets in a row for Peseiro’s men. They did ride their luck, as Mubululu and Zito went agonisingly close to scoring, but overall they are a very accomplished unit.
The back three of Semi Ajayi, Calvin Bassey and captain William Troost-Ekong are impressively in sync, athletically covering the width of the field and allowing their wing-backs attacking license. Fulham’s Bassey won four of six duels contested, while Troost-Ekong led by example with seven clearances.
Fulltime: The header is over, the final whistle goes. It wasn’t always easy and Angola were a threat to the last but Nigeria are through to the semifinals. Given the madcap nature of the rest of the tournament, you’d expect they’ll take some stopping now. Ademola Lookman is their hero once more, Victor Osimhen had a goal disallowed and was a typical handful but produced a mixed bag of a performance. You feel he’s going to make someone pay soon. Maybe it’ll be South Africa of Cape Verde in the semifinals. Thanks for joining us!
90th minute+6: Long ball towards the Nigeria box. Bassey heads behind.
90th minute+1: Nigeria attack and have numbers over. Again, Lookman botches the pass. He looks like he’s running on fumes and he’s not the only one.
90th minute: There will be seven added minutes.
89th minute: Angola sub Zito cuts in from the left and lets fly. It’s a fine effort but Nwabali reads it all the way and gets a firm punch on it.
88th minute: Signori comes bounding from his ground to clear up under pressure from Osimhen. It really feels like there’s another goal in these. It’s so frantic.
82nd minute: Nigeria through with a two-on-two and it’s the men you’d want involved. But Lookman and Osimhen seem to confuse one another and make a complete meal of it. Angola still alive here.
76th minute: Whoever thought to call a cooling break after all that has an unreal sense of drama. I tip my cap.
75th minute: Osimhen has the ball in the net from Lookman’s free-kick but it looks tight for offside! NO GOAL!
71st minute: Gaspar hauls down Osimhen unceremoniously and is booked. Tempers getting frayed out there. Nigeria want a penalty from the free-kick as it strikes Gelson Dala’s arm but the referee is not interested.
62nd minute: Simon, who has been in dazzling form this evening, slaloms his way into the Angola box before being crowded out. Angola are playing a dangerous game here, but match is becoming more open, leading to moments such as Zini’s near miss.
59th minute: Angola hit the post. Out of nowhere they slice through the usually obdurate Nigeria backline, and halftime substitute Zini sidefoots past Nwabali but against the right-hand upright.
58th minute: Bassey was just worryingly down injured after jarring his knee. But here he is at the back post, arguably getting in Osimhen’s way, and heading over.
57th minute: Buatu, who has played like a man running through treacle against these livewire Nigeria attackers at times, fouls Simon and the Super Eagles have a dangerous free-kick. To his credit, he gets up to head clear.
47th minute: Angola cough up possession in a dangerous area and Sanusi romps forward from left-back to flash a shot across goal.
46th minute: Back underway and it doesn’t look like Nigeria want to hang around. Again Osimhen scatters bodies and Iwobi scuffs wide from range.
Halftime: Nigeria are 45 minutes away from the semifinals. Mabululu gave them an early scare and Angola will continue to threaten at every opportunity, but the difference in quality has become clearer as the game has worn on. The Super Eagles look athletically and technically superior. Angola have struggled to contain wingers Simon and Lookman, meaning it was no surprise when they combined for the opener.
41th minute: GOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!! Ademola Lookman!!!!
He got both goals against Cameroon and Lookman puts Nigeria ahead in the quarterfinal. It’s winger to winger as Simon dances down the left far too easily. He cuts a low ball back to Lookman, who finishes like man with his confidence riding high as he lashes high in to the net.
35th minute: Nigeria’s plan not especially hard to spot here: get it to Osimhen. This time a long throw is hurled into the box. The star striker glances wide, having slightly mistimed his jump.
30th minute: We’ve stopped for a cooling break. Intriguing contest so far. Nigeria are in the ascendency but Angola look dangerous every time they attack and Mabululu has gone closer than anyone to breaking the deadlock.
24th minute: Nigeria have got control of this now and containing Osimhen is starting to look like a bit of an ordeal. This cross is flatter and he gets across Buatu to power a header towards goal. Signori’s positioning was on point. If it had been anywhere else but straight at him that was going in.
13th minute: Onyeka dinks a cross towards Osimhen. It doesn’t give the Napoli man much to work with but he leaps and twists to get off a pretty decent effort that floats over.
8th minute: Now a Nigeria corner on the right. Angola deal with it initially but Simon and Lookman link-up well to keep the attack alive and the latter has his shot blocked. Strangled claims for handball against Estrela fall on deaf ears.
4th minute: Angola hit back, with Gilerbto relating Mabululu down the right channel. his low cross is cleared behind for a corner by Nigeria captain Ekong. Huge chance from the right-wing delivery! How has Mabululu not scored?! There’s a near-post flick on the Al Ittihad forward side-foots his volley two close to Nwabali, who pushes it against his post and wide.
1st minute: Nigeria on the attack and a chance straight from kickoff! The ball won’t quite come under Osimhen’s spell, and the shot is blocked. Bodies everywhere. Calm down, everyone!
5 mins to kickoff: The teams are out and it’s anthems time at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium. The ground isn’t full but both sets of fans are very much making themselves heard.
15 mins to kickoff: The game effectively boils down to a case of the unstoppable force versus the immovable object. The last-16 win over Cameroon saw Nigeria record their third consecutive clean sheet. Jose Peseiro’s men have not been breached since the opening 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea, who scored four in each of their next two matches. The only comparable attack in the competition is Angola’s, with Pedro Goncalves’s side rattling home nine goals in their four matches. In-form attacking duo Mabululu and Gelson Dala are responsible for seven of those.
45 mins to kickoff: There is a change in goal for Angola, with Antonio Signiori the beneficiary from Lloyd Kazapua being suspended.
55 mins to kickoff: Nigeria boss Jose Peseiro has named an unchanged side from the last-16 win over Cameroon, which means Stanley Nwabali retains his place in goal.
How we line up vs #Angola #soarsupereagles #letsdoitagain #ourafcon #afcon2023 pic.twitter.com/SysJOQiEBe
1 hour to kickoff: Right then. No Egypt, no Senegal, no Tunisia, no Morocco, no Algeria. Nigeria can’t mess this up from here, surely? Hosts Ivory Coast are still in the mix but were thrashed 4-0 by Equatorial Guinea during the group stage and changed their manager. It’s been pretty wild AFCON and now, looking to bring the Super Eagles to the ground, we have Angola. Ranked 117 in the world but banging in the goals like there’s no tomorrow.
1 hr 30 mins prior to kickoff: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of Nigeria vs. Angola in the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals.
Gearing up for Match Day. #soarsupereagles #letsdoitagain #ourafcon #afcon2023 #africanfootball pic.twitter.com/3fcvFril3J
Francis Uzoho had to be content with a place on the bench as Stanley Nwabali retained his place in goal for Nigeria. AC Milan winger Samuel Chukwueze is also among the replacements.
Nigeria (3-4-3, right to left): 23. Stanley Nwabali (GK) — 21. Calvin Bassey, 6. Semi Ajayi, 5. William Troost-Ekong — 17, Alex Iwobi, 8. Frank Onyeka, 2. Ola Aina, 3. Zaidu Sanusi — 15. Moses Simon, 9. Victor Osimhen, 18. Ademola Lookman.
Angola will also be forced into a change in goal, with Antonio Signori starting as Lloyd Kazapua serves a suspension.
Angola (4-3-3 right to left): 1. Antonio Signori (GK) — 21. Eddie Afonso, 6. Kialonda Gaspar, 3. Jonathan Buatu, 13. To Carneiro — 16. Fredy Ribeiro, 23. Show, 20. Estrela — 7. Gilberto, 19. Mabululu, 10. Gelson Dala.
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Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK.
