Angola’s Gelson Dala scored twice as they reached the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarterfinals with an impressive 3-0 win over neighbours Namibia on Saturday.
Angola, who claimed their biggest ever AFCON win, had an early setback when goalkeeper Neblu received a red card in the 17th minute and they were under pressure from the Namibian side that looked the most likely to find the net.
But the game turned when Dala opened the scoring after 38 minutes. Namibia defender Lubeni Haukongo received a red card shortly afterwards and the Angolan forward completed his double from the resulting free-kick with a fine header.
Angola added a third goal through Mabululu in the second period and now await a quarter-final tie against the winners of the round-of-16 clash between Nigeria and Cameroon that will be played later on Saturday.
Kazapua made a good stop to deny Angola a fourth goal in the 70th minute as he saved Jonathan Buatu’s header following a corner, and substitute Zito Luvumbo rattled the crossbar with a long-range effort in stoppage time.
Angola, having topped Group D, registered their first ever knockout win at an AFCON finals, with their previous two quarter-final appearances coming when the tournament had 16 teams.
Despite being knocked out Namibia can take plenty of positives from their campaign, which saw the Brave Warriors register a first ever win with a memorable 1-0 victory over Tunisia – and reach the knockout stage for the first time in their history.
