LUANDA: Asamoah Gyan gave Ghana a 1-0 win over host Angola and a place in the semifinals of the African Cup of Nations on Sunday. Gyan received a pass from Kojo Asamoah before firing a diagonal shot into the bottom corner. Ghana, a four-time African Cup champion who has also qualified for the World Cup later this year, will either play Zambia or Nigeria. The two teams meet Monday. Later Sunday, Ivory Coast plays Algeria as two World Cup qualifying teams meet in another quarterfinal. We made an assessment of the Angolan team, Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac said. We wanted to get an early goal and fortunately we got one. We could have scored more on the counterattack. Luanda s 50,000 seater stadium was full to capacity as the boisterous home support urged Angola on, and the home side started well, pressing forward and winning an early corner after Flavio s long range shot took a deflection off a Ghana defender. Missing the midfield leadership of Chelsea s Michael Essien and Bologna s Stephen Appiah, Ghana looked shaky, with Andre Ayew getting a yellow card in the opening minute for a late challenge on Mabina. And Ghana s left back Addy Lee twice almost beat his own goalkeeper Richard Kingson in the opening quarter of an hour. That gave the home crowd encouragement, but Gyan s 16th minute goal quietened the home support. I am proud of my players, Angola coach Jose Manuel said. We didn t take our chances. We knew Ghana was a difficult opponent. I don t think we played badly. Asamoah, who plays for Udinese in Italy s Serie A, pumped a long ball forward to Gyan, who outpaced Angola captain Kali to score from 15 yards (meters). Exploiting poor marking from the Ghana defense, Flavio presented Manucho with an easy tap-in just before the break, but the Real Valladolid forward blasted his shot over. Angola pushed for an equalizer in the second half, and went close in the 70th when Gilberto s free kick from 20 yards was deflected just wide. Manucho missed another good chance two minutes later when he headed wide after substitute Job had sent in an enticing cross from the right. In the final minute, defensive midfielder Isaac Vorsah denied Angola a last gasp equalizer when he cleared captain Kali s well placed shot off the line.
