Date Published: 01/27/10

Nations Cup: Nigeria, Ghana clash in Semi-Final tomorrow ...Kick-Off time, 11am Eastern

The first semi-final at the 2010 African Cup of Nations kicks off pitting two of West Africa’s giants together in a repeat of the quarter-final two seasons ago, in which Ghana prevailed.  Ghana’s young team has grown into the tournament as they have progressed, but Nigeria are still to show their full potential.

Whilst the second semi-final between Egypt and Algeria has the obvious feel of a grudge match to it, there is also something of a clash in this match too.  The youth of Ghana will be matched up against the more experienced team of Nigeria.  It will be fascinating to see whether youth and enthusiasm prevail over old-age and treachery.

It’s been an African Cup of Nations that hasn’t favoured the better fancied sides with several of the well-tipped teams, such as Cameroon and the Ivory Coast, falling at the quarter-final stage.  It looked initially like Ghana’s tournament might be heading the same way when they slumped to a 3-1 defeat to the Ivory Coast in their first game in Group B and then laboured to a 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso, but things have improved gradually.

Much of the slow start in Angola can be traced to the very difficult opening that the Black Stars endured, which included the terrorism surrounding the Togolese team in the city Ghana were also supposed to be preparing and playing in, as well as injuries to key players both before the tournament started and during.  Minus key individuals such as Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari, Ghana’s first steps in the tournament were bound to be somewhat tentative.

However, their hard-fought victory over hosts Angola in the quarter-final in front of a fiercely passionate and partisan home crowd indicates that slowly Ghana are becoming a force to be counted on.

Whilst it has been a tournament of progress for Ghana, the same can’t be said of Nigeria, who have stumbled through to this stage seemingly more by luck than good fortune.  After a fast start against Egypt, which saw them snatch the lead, they slumped to a 3-1 defeat in a game they were scarcely in after the first quarter of an hour.

The Super Eagles can consider themselves fortunate to have been drawn into a group which also contained Benin and Mozambique, and with the first tough match out of the way they racked up the requisite six points against the minnows.  However, although their performance against Mozambique in the final game was better than in the previous two, they were back to their jaded selves against Zambia in the quarter-finals.

It eventually took penalties to overcome the stubborn resistance of the Copper-Bullets, and in truth after half-time were distinctly second best to a side they should have been able to overcome.  Nevertheless there were some positives to be taken from the 0-0, mainly focusing on the defensive aspects of the game.  Yusuf Mohamed summed up Nigeria’s gritty determination by twice clearing Zambian shots off the line to preserve the clean-sheet and keep his side in the contest.

The match therefore is delicately poised.  On the one side is a young Ghana side that has shed its status as favorites and flourished as underdogs, and on the other a Nigerian team that is yet to fulfill its considerable potential.