Rajevac hails early strike

Milovan Rajevac will have the opportunity to see Ghana's opponents in the semi-finals as the Black Stars begin preparations for Thursday's game.

Ghana will next play in the semifinal against the winner of Monday's quarter-final between Nigeria and Zambia in Lubango.

For Rajevac, attention is now focused on the next challenge after Ghana crushed the dreams of Angola.

An early goal broke home hearts as Ghana marched into the semi-finals of the African Nations Cup on the back of a 1-0 victory over hosts, Angola in their quarter-final tie in Luanda on Sunday.

Despite the support of a capacity 50,000-strong crowd, Ghana coach, Milovan Rajevac knew the Black Stars needed to score early to unsettle the hosts in the crunch game.

“We made an assessment of the Angolan team,” Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac said.

“We wanted to get an early goal and fortunately we got one. We could have scored more on the counterattack.”

Rajevic said that despite the early strike it had been a hard task defending such a slim lead.

"Fortunately we scored early, then tried to defend it and counter-attack. It was hard, but we did it, now we'll digest the win and think about the semi-final tomorrow (Monday)," he said.

Asamoah Gyan settled the tie on 16 minutes as he run unto Kwadwo Asamoah's weighted pass from the Ghana half, skipped past Angola skipper Kali with his first touch and poked the ball past keeper Carlos Fernandes.

Angola had almost all the possession in the second half and never stopped attacking but Ghana's impressive backline held firm to send the hosts out of the competition.