Though not fancied to progress this far, the Ghanaian team, who overcame the absence of several key players have booked their first final in 18 years at the African Nations Cup.

Clearly there is no point in trying to rile Milovan Rajevac with criticisms about his team's style.

Rajevac has opted to stick to getting results against producing the art of beautiful football at the competition.

Ghana demonstrated yet again another tight defensive performance to defeat Nigeria 1-0 on Thursday in Luanda to set up a finals date with defending champions Egypt on Sunday.

“I told my players we were going to play to reach the final and not to produce beautiful football, only the result matters, it’s all about the result,” Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac told a news conference.

The Black Stars went into the tournament without several key players and then lost captain Michael Essien after he suffered a knee injury in training.

Rajevac’s squad lacks certain individuals but has put in efficient defensive performances after an opening loss to Ivory Coast to put away the threat of opponents like Burkina Faso, hosts Angola and Nigeria.

“Nigeria had a few good chances. Our team is very young and we let them be dangerous because of this lack of experience,” he added.

“But we defended well. Defence is a very important thing in modern football.”