Pedro Gonçalves’ Angola side progressed to the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations for just the third-ever time, cruising beyond Namibia in a dramatic contest that saw both sides reduced to 10 men.
Blink and you miss it was the theme of the first half, as two goals and two red cards punctuated a frantic opening 45 minutes. It started in the worst possible way for favourites Angola, when goalkeeper Neblú received a straight red card for denying Namibian forward an obvious goal scoring opportunity by handling Bethuel Muzeu’s attempted chip outside the penalty area. Despite the numerical disadvantage, it wouldn’t impact Angola’s attacking endeavours, with a nicely worked move being turned home at the opposite end by Gelson Dala moments later.
Trailing by a goal to nil, Namibia had plenty of work to do, but their task got even harder when they were reduced to 10 men. A clumsy second-yellow card offense from Lubeni Pombili Haukongo left referee Beida Dahane no choice but to brandish the defender a red card. From the freekick Haukongo had conceded, Angola doubled their lead, with Dala rising highest in the 18-yard box to nod home his second of the evening.
After the chaos in the first period, it was no surprise to see things calm down early in the second half, with Angola sitting back in an attempt to protect their lead. The Black Sable Antelopes remained dangerous on the counter-attack though, which is exactly how they found their third goal. Breaking in behind a stretched Namibian defence, Mabululu curled home a stylish right-footed effort midway through the second half to wrap up the win for Angola.
A memorable night for Angola, whose last quarter-final appearance at AFCON came when they were host nation back in 2010, with Gonçalves now looking to go at least one step further this time around. As for Namibia, their first-ever AFCON knockout fixture ends in disappointment, and the Brave Warriors will look back on the early red card to goalkeeper Neblú as a missed opportunity.
Angola will face the winner in the game between Nigeria and Cameroon in the next couple of hours from now.
It was an interesting game.