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Nigeria and Ivory Coast secured their passage to the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations.
Nigeria and Ivory Coast secured their passage to the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations.
Nigeria set up a quarter-final tie with hosts Ghana after beating Benin in their final group encounter 2-0.
Coming into the final round of fixtures, Nigeria needed to win and hope tournament favourites Ivory Coast beat Mali, while also recovering a two goal-difference deficit.
knockout stage
Goals from Chelsea's John Obi Mikel and Yakubu of Everton were enough to see off Benin as the Super Eagles made it to the quarter final stage.
In the group's other match, Ivory Coast made it three wins from three with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Mali that sealed their place in the quarter-finals as Group B winners.
Chelsea star Didier Drogba, Marc Zoro and Boubacar Sanogo scored to earn the 2006 finalists a meeting with Guinea in the knockout stage.