A solitary strike from Asamoah Gyan saw Ghana to a 1-0 win over Nigeria in the African Cup of Nations semi-finals.
Black Stars send Super Eagles packing
A solitary strike from Asamoah Gyan saw Ghana to a 1-0 win over Nigeria in the African Cup of Nations semi-finals.
The only goal of the game came midway through the first half of a hard-fought contest, with a Kwadwo Asamoah corner catching the Super Eagles napping and in-form Rennes striker Gyan stole in to provide the finishing touch.
It was one-way traffic thereafter as wasteful finishing from Nigeria, coupled with some dogged defending and some especially solid goalkeeping from Wigan goalkeeper Richard Kingston, helped four-time former winners Ghana seal a place in the final for the first time since 1992.
They will now face either Egypt or Algeria in Sunday's final.
Milovan Rajevac's team, without more than five of their regular players through injury, were cautious throughout the 90 minutes.
Nigeria were guilty of some poor finishing with Obafemi Martins, starting for the first time in the competition, one of the main culprits.
He almost handed his side the perfect start after playing a neat one-two with Peter Odemwingie on the left, but defender Hans Sarpei did just enough to put the Wolfsburg striker off his stride.
Experienced
After the fast start, the pace then slowed as the Black Stars struggled to force their way into the game against their more experienced opponents.
However, they stunned the Super Eagles into silence in the 21st minute with a goal that came completely against the run of play - Gyan's run to the near post catching the defenders off guard as he met Asamoah's corner with a powerful headed finish.
The Rennes striker almost doubled the advantage shortly after with a cleverly attempted 20-yard lob that flew inches over Vincent Enyeama's goal.
Just before the half-hour mark Martins had the best opening for his side when Odemwingie's shot from outside the box deflected into his path, but the final 12-yard shot was too close to goalkeeper Kingston, who did excellently to push the ball wide.
Lokomotiv Moscow forward Odemwingie should then have done better after finding himself with a free six-yard header created by Uwa Echiejile's pin-point pass from the left, which was nodded wide.
And he was guilty of another wasted chance on the stroke of half time when the ball came to him inside the box, but was mis-hit woefully off target.
Pressure
It remained 1-0 to Ghana at the break and the Nigerians continued to pile on the pressure after the restart.
And Shaibu Amodu's men were almost gifted an instant route back into the game when Odemwingie's attempted pass was almost deflected into his own goal by Lee Addy, but for the intervention of Kingston.
They continued to press but failed to make the most of half-chances with Chinedu Obasi and John Obi Mikel both coming close, before Martins missed another excellent chance - he was played into the box by a splendidly weighted pass from Mikel, only for Kingston's right hand this time to come to the rescue.
With 20 minutes to go Amodu decided to throw in Yakubu Aiyegbeni, who had an instant chance to score when he was put in six-yards out by another substitute Victor Obinna - the ball came to him quickly though and he skied into the crowd.
Martins again found himself in on goal seconds later, but for third time in the game the real chance went before it actually came.
With 10 minutes to go, the anxiety began to show amongst the Nigerians as Ghana looked happy to sit back on their one-goal lead.
They tried desperately to draw level, but it was not to be - the best chance of the closing stages coming when Sani Kaita fired wide - as Ghana claimed the bragging rights from west Africa.
