Angolan coach Manuel Jose on Sunday rued a number of missed chances from his side as the hosts were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations in the quarter-finals by Ghana.
Asamoah Gyan's first-half strike was good enough to set up a semi- final clash for Ghana on Thursday in Luanda against the winner of Monday's quarter-final match between Nigeria and Zambia.
The hosts had enough chances to win several games, with Manucho the main culprit as he missed three clear-cut chances that he should really have buried in the back of the net.
Jose said that even though Ghana had been in the game in the first half, his side had outplayed them in the second. 'But we could not break them down. We missed too many chances and luck was not on our side.
'Our forwards tried their best to get goals, but it was simply not their day. I think my side deserved the victory, but could not achieve it.
'I can't fault any aspect of my side's play, the effort was there, they tried hard, the only thing is that they could not score.'
Manucho said that he had tried his best to score, but simply missed the opportunities he had. 'This is what happens in football.'
Kali, who came close to equalizing in second half injury time, said they had tried everything to win. 'We wanted to win so badly. It was good to be in the quarter-finals. At the end of the day, the only difference between us and them was that they scored, we did not.'
There was good news at the start of the game for Jose, who was able to call on top striker Flavio, who had recovered sufficiently from the injury that kept him out of the last match.
And it was the Palancas Negras, who, to the joy of the capacity 50,000 crowd in the Estadio do Novembre 11 in the capital, stamped their authority on the game early on.
Against the run of play, Ghana's Black Stars took the lead in the 16th minute when Kwadwo Asamoah sent Gyan into space and the Stade Rennes striker scored with a stunning low shot past goalkeeper Carlos Fernandes.
The goal spurred the host into even more action and former Manchester United striker Manucho, who now plays for Real Valladolid in Spain, had two glorious opportunities to equalize in the first half.
On the half hour, Flavio found an unmarked Manucho in the area, but goalkeeper Richard Kingson pulled off a fantastic reflex save from his powerful header.
In the 37th minute Gyan thought he had scored a second for his side, but his effort was correctly ruled offside.
A minute from the break Manucho had his second chance.
Under pressure from Flavio, Kingson attempted to clear a high ball, but the Wigan goalkeeper could only punch the ball to the feet of Manucho. With the goal at his mercy and Kingson lying flat on the ground, the forward ballooned the ball over the bar.
Angola continued dominating in the second half, but failed to create any real chances early on.
Instead, it was Ghana who could have scored a second in the 65th minute when Haminu Dramani went into the Angolan area, but shot straight at Carlos.
In the 70th minute Lee Addy and Hans Sarpei brought down Manucho on the edge of the area, but Gilberto hit the free-kick into the Ghanaian wall.
Just another minute later Manucho again had a good chance but put his header over the bar.
In injury time Kali nearly found a dramatic equalizer when he ran onto a poor back header by a Ghanaian defender, but he was just a fraction to slow and Kingson cleared for a corner, which brought nothing.
Ghana then held on to their somewhat fortuitous lead to go through to the next round and remain on track for their fifth Africa Cup of Nations triumph.
Algeria face Ivory Coast in another quarter-final in Cabinda later Sunday.
Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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