The 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON 2023, has reached the quarter-final stage with Nigeria and Angola beginning it all.
The two will lock horns at the Félix Houphouët Boigny Stadium in Abidjan for the first ticket into the semi-finals.
Both sides are yet to lose a game at this year’s tournament.
The Palancas Negras, who are playing at this stage for the second time, drew 1-1 with Algeria in their first game, in Group D.
They next beat Mauritania 3-2 before inflicting a 2-0 defeat on Burkina Faso, ending a scoring streak of the Stallions.
They emerged as the group winners, leaving two-time champions Algeria as the only side to go out of the group.
In the Round of 16, the Angolans, who lost 1-0 to Ghana at this stage in 2010, beat Namibia’s Brave Warriors by an emphatic 3-0 scoreline.
The three-time champions, the Super Eagles, on the other hand, came out of Group A as the runners-up behind Equatorial Guinea, with whom they played 1-1 in the second game of the tournament.
But the Nigerians emerged stronger to beat hosts Ivory Coast 1-0 in their second Group A game, courtesy a Troost-Ekong penalty.
They continued that form by beating Guinea-Bissau by an own goal.
The Green and Whites made a big statement of their desire to annex a fourth trophy to come parity with Ghana when they beat the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon 2-0 in the Round of 16.
The winner of Friday’s first quarter-final match will play either Cape Verde or South Africa in the semis at the Stade de La Paix in Bouaké on Wednesday, February 7.
