LUANDA — After a two week celebration Luanda went into wake-mode late on Sunday as Angola crashed out of the Africa Cup of Nations. A capacity 50,000 crowd turned up at the Angolan capital's 11 November stadium anticipating victory over Ghana to continue the Cup party, but the festive mood evaporated after Asamoah Gyan's first-half goal sent Ghana and not Angola into Thursday's semi-final.

Crowds who had gathered around crackling television sets hung their heads in disbelief at the sound of the final whistle and the realisation that their team was out of the competition.

Bars emptied almost as quickly as Luanda?s 11th November Stadium and people made their way back home quietly, lost for words.

The jubilation of beating Malawi and the anticipation of qualifying was a distant memory as Angolan fans watched their team?s Cup of Nations dream disappear.

Student Edgar Antonio, 26, lives in Holland but came back to Angola to watch the CAN with family and friends

"I?m very sad and I don?t really have words for how I feel. I was thinking that Angola was going to win this game, but in the end, Ghana was a little bit stronger than us.

"The Africa Cup is being played here in Angola and everybody was thinking that Angola would go further than this, but it wasn?t to be."

Aurelio Ribeiro, 34, an IT manager living in Luanda, watched the game with friends in a bar.

"We played a nice game but we made a mistake and they scored and that meant we lost the game, but that?s football.

"But we are going to party anyway, because we are from Angola and we like to party.

"We still have the CAN here in Angola, so let?s party until the CAN is over.

"The CAN is about more than football to Angola. We are a new country and with this, we are making something big and I think the CAN is something that is good for us."