Ghana Is Out of African Nations Cup

...Lawal late show sees Nigeria into Nations Cup semis

BAMAKO, Nigeria won through to the semi-finals of the African Nations Cup here Sunday after a late strike by midfielder Garba Lawal gave his team a 1-0 win over bitter rivals Ghana.

Lawal crashed home a thunderous shot 10 minutes from full-time at the March 26 Stadium to send the Group A winners into a semi-final on Thursday against either Senegal or Egypt, who play on Monday.

The winner came when Nigeria striker Julius Aghahowa broke away down the right and crossed.

Ghana's defence could only clear as far as Lawal, who unleashed his unstoppable rocket past the despairing dive of Black Stars 'keeper Sammy Adjej. The stunning goal sealed what until then had been a subdued encounter between two of the fiercest rivals in African football.

Extra-time appeared to be looming, particularly when Nigeria's Arsenal star Nwankwo Kanu wasted a glorious opportunity to give his side the lead shortly before Lawal's winner.

Aghahowa had again broken clear after a slip by Ghana's Kofi Amponsah and squared to an unmarked Kanu, who somehow scooped his shot over the bar.

Ghana, who had scraped into the last eight from Group B with a remarkable win over Burkina Faso last week, had until then weathered steady second-half pressure from Nigeria, with keeper Adjej outstanding.

Adjej was called upon time and again by Ghana, and had stopped a certain goal with a brilliant reflex block from Lawal on 71 minutes.

Nigeria narrowly had the better of a a cat-and-mouse first half interrupted for several minutes when the Super Eagles' goalkeeper Ike Shorunmu was knocked unconscious in a 34th-minute collision with defender Isaac Okoronkwo. Shorunmu, who was replaced by the inexperienced Murphy Akanji, was stretchered off and whisked out of the stadium by an ambulance as worried players from both sides looked on.

Shortly afterwards Nigeria had two good scoring chances.

Skipper Sunday Oliseh saw a venomous long-range free-kick tipped over by Adjej and just before half-time Aghahowa should have done better with a free header that drifted wide.

Earlier, Ipswich Town midfielder Finidi George had also forced an athletic stop from Adjej after unleashing a powerful shot from just outside the penalty area. At the other end, Ghana's best chance had come on 21 minutes when Panathinaikos midfielder Dereck Boateng spun away from the hapless Okoronkwo before firing low into the side netting.

Okoronkwo's shaky first-half performance was compounded when he was booked for clattering into Boakye just after 20 minutes.

Nigeria: Shorunmu (Akanji 34), Yobo, Udeze, Okoronkwo, West, Oliseh, George (Alyegbeni 89), Lawal, Okocha (Oruma 89) Kanu, Aghahowa

Ghana: Adjei, E Kuffour, Mensah, Mirekwu, Amoako, Boateng, Boakye, Owusu-Ansah, Amponsah, Ibrahim, Pantsil

Booked: Udeze, Okoronkwo (Nigeria)

Referee: Guezzaz (Morocco)

Malian 'Eagles' soar into African Nations Cup semi-finals

KAYES, Mali, Feb 3 (AFP) -- Hosts Mali dumped South Africa out of the African Nations Cup Sunday with a deserved 2-0 quarter-final triumph. Bassala Toure put the 'Eagles' ahead after 60 minutes in this north-west gold mining town and substitute Dramane Coulibaly added a second in the final minute.
When Spanish referee Arturo Ibanez blew for full-time, hundreds of Malians in the capacity 12,000 crowd stromed on to the pitch and carried their heroes to the dressing rooms.
South Africa, first in the 1996 edition of the biennial tournament, second in 1998 and third in 2000, had no answer to the pace, power and imagination of the turbo-charged Malians.
The reward for Mali is a semi-final showdown with defending champions Cameroon or Egypt at the 60,000-seater March 26 Stadium in Bamako on Thursday night. Lucky to be level at half-time, after raw South African defender Mbulelo 'Oldjohn' Mabizelo was constantly tormented by Greece-based Toure, Bafana Bafana (The Boys) were overwhelmed in the second half.
Toure broke the deadlock on a narrow, bumpy Abdoulaye Sissoko pitch with a superb goal as he dribbled past three defenders before unleasing a low, right-foot shot that flew past Hans Vonk.
South Africa brought on captain Shaun Bartlett, out of action since an early injury in the first group game against Burkina Faso, but rarely threatened goalkeeper Mahamadou Sidibe.
And with time running out, unmarked Coulibaly confirmed the superiority of the Malians by pouncing on a cross to rifle the ball into the roof of the net past a helpless Vonk.