Lookman, Dala braces power Nigeria, Angola to AFCON 2023 quarter-finals

 Atalanta star, Ademola Lookman, bagged a brace to fire Nigeria into the quarter-final as the Super Eagles extended their unbeaten streak against Cameroon to five games following a 2-0 victory.

A dramatic start to the contest saw Nigeria take the lead after nine minutes when Semi Ajayi poked home from close range only to be denied his second-ever inter­national goal by a lengthy VAR review.

The early reprieve saw Camer­oon tighten up their defence for a sustained period, and a first-half stalemate appeared increasingly likely as the clash edged towards half-time.

However, the Indomitable Lions were dealt a sucker punch after Victor Osimhen pounced on a mistimed touch from Oumar Gonzalez before slotting in Look­man, whose shot was fumbled into the net by Fabrice Ondoa as Andre Onana watched in horror from the bench.

Having come from behind to avoid defeat in three of their last five games, you would expect Cameroon to fight back, but Rigobert Song’s toothless side failed to muster a single shot on target.

Nigeria continued to create big chances, but despite their wasteful­ness, Cameroon barely looked like making them pay. Lookman finally killed the game in injury time as he latched on to Calvin Bassey’s low cross to volley home.

Earlier on Saturday, Angola booked their place in the quar­ter-finals for only the third time in their history after thrashing Namibia 3-0 in a dramatic contest that saw both sides reduced to ten men.

Two goals and two red cards punctuated an action-packed opening 45 minutes that started in the worst possible way for Angola.

Goalkeeper Neblu was sent off for handling the ball outside the penalty area in a bid to thwart an attempted chip from Namibia forward, Bethuel Muzeu.

Substitute goalkeeper, Antonio Signori, was tasked with keeping out the resulting freekick and did so in style.

Unfased by the setback, it was Angola who broke the deadlock in the 38th minute with the in-form Gelson Dala turning home a nicely worked team move to score his third of the tournament.

Trailing 1-0, Namibia had plenty of work to do, but their task got even harder when they were reduced to ten men follow­ing a needless second yellow card offence from Lubeni Pombili Haukongo.

Haukongo’s reckless foul had dire consequences for Namib­ia as Angola doubled their lead from the resulting free kick, with Dala heading home a dangerous in-swinger from Fredy.

Their strategy aimed at catching Namibia on the counter-attack, and it worked a treat for their third goal as Mabululu curled home a stylish right-footed effort to wrap up the win for Angola shortly after the hour mark.

Namibia pressed on in search of a consolation, and Riaan Hanamub came close with a long-range ef­fort before Gilberto hit the wood­work with a long-range curler on the other end of the pitch.

It was a memorable night for Angola after picking up their biggest-ever AFCON win to book a place in the quarter-final for the first time since 2010 to face Nige­ria. — Onefootball

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