Nigeria advanced to the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals with a 1-0 win over Angola on Friday evening.
The Super Eagles lined-up its star figures in Victor Osimhen, Alex Iwobi, Ademola Lookman, while the Sable Antelopes missed first-choice Neblu through injury.
Angola came close to a fourth minute lead through a close-range effort from Mabululu following a corner, but Stanley Nwabili repelled.
Lookman aimed to go one better than their counterparts from the Southern region six minutes apart with a free-kick in a well-placed area, but he was snuffed out.
The momentum continued to sway the side of the Super Eagles, as Osimhen drew a decent stop from Signori Antonio with a pin-point header following Moses Simon's cross.
Simon remained problematic five minutes to halftime where he switched flanks to go infield, beat a diving challenge and placed a cutback for Lookman to apply a first-time finish.
The Palancas Negras showed up before the second period and substituted Estrela to haul in Zini, as the Super Eagles remained unchanged.
Zini very nearly got off to a fine entry ten minutes apart when he rushed through to fashion in a low shot from a promising angle, but was kept out by the post.
Nigeria could've gone two goals up later through a smart finish off the woodwork from Osimhen, but it was called back and disallowed for offside.
The Sable Antelopes proved promising in the closing exchanges, as substitute Zito Luvumbo cut-in from the right to curl towards the top corner, but Nwabili produced a strong save.
With seven minutes of stoppage, the Super Eagles held on to see out the win and a place in the semi-finals.
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