Nigeria rallied to beat Senegal 2-1 and both teams clinched the final berths in the quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe upset Ghana 2-1 in the other Group D match which tied both with Senegal on three points. While Nigeria finished with a perfect three wins to win the group with nine points, Senegal went through on goal difference.
”I thank God for qualifying. We came to qualify and we did,” Senegal coach Abdoulaye Sarr said. ”We played with quality for 80 minutes then fell apart, but I’m still happy.”
Ghana became the third World Cup qualifier to be eliminated at the African championship. Only Côte d’Ivoire and Tunisia have advanced to the last eight.
Senegal plays Guinea in Alexandria in Friday’s quarterfinals, while Egypt meets Congo in Cairo. On Saturday, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire meet in Cairo, and Nigeria plays defending champion Tunisia in Port Said.
The semifinals are on February 7, and the final will be played on February 10.
Inter Milan striker Obafemi Martins scored twice within eight minutes in the second half to rally Nigeria past Senegal, which had gone ahead after 58 minutes through Souleymane Camara.
”It was a dramatic group. We were lucky. We could have been two down, but we came back,” Nigeria coach Austin Eguavoen said.
”Any team could have advanced from this group, but first place is very important for us.”
In Ismailia, Portsmouth striker Benjani Mwaruwari secured Zimbabwe’s surprise victory.
Mwaruwari was ruled offside on three earlier occasions, but found the net in the 68th minute, chipping the ball over Ghana ‘keeper Sammy Adjei. Zimbabwe already led through Gabriel Issah’s unlucky header into his own net while trying to clear a shot from Cephas Chimedza.
Substitute Baba Adamu got the consolation goal for Ghana in injury time, but Zimbabwe still rebounded from two straight defeats and kept its opponent under pressure for most of the game.
Black Stars coach Ratomir Dujkovic said he hoped Ghana would have a full-strength squad for the World Cup, where it faces Italy, Czech Republic and the United States. Chelsea star Michael Essien missed the African Cup because of injury.
”Zimbabwe played better, it’s that simple,” the Serbian coach said. ”This was the best squad we could assemble for this tournament … we have some time to prepare before the World Cup.”
Zimbabwe had a late strike disallowed for offside, just before Adamu pulled one back for Ghana.
”We were unlucky to have a third goal disallowed — that could have led us to the quarterfinals,” Zimbabwe coach Charles Mhlauri said.
”I had said that we came here to win this game, and that’s what we did.”
In Port Said, Senegal came out attacking and pinned the Super Eagles in their own half for the first 20 minutes. Senegal’s Pape Bouba Diop missed a free header from five metres that could have opened the scoring.
Nigeria relied on counterattacks and Martins almost punished the Senegal defence in the 22nd, pouncing on a sloppy back pass from Souleymane Diawara that goalkeeper Tony Sylva just collected.
Martins came close again two minutes before halftime but his shot was blocked.
Senegal took the lead in the 58th when Souleymane Camara shot from close range after goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama blocked Henri Camara’s initial attempt.
Martins equalised for Nigeria in the 80th with a header after Sylva failed to collect a cross by West Bromwich Albion striker Nwankwo Kanu.
Martins got his second in the 88th, again heading in from close range after a through ball by Kanu. – Sapa-AFP