ACCRA, Jan 29: Premiership duo Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari helped an impressive Ghana qualify for the African Nations Cup quarter-finals, but while the hosts march on it’s the end of the road for Morocco.

The Black Stars, in their best performance since battle commenced for the continental crown, were far too slick for the 2004 runners-up, with first half goals from Essien and Muntari silencing the Atlas Lions’ roar 2-0 here on Monday.

Over in Sekondi, Guinea, missing skipper Pascal Feindouno, carved out a 1-1 draw with Namibia to secure their passage to the last eight as Group A runners-up.

Ghana had come in for heavy criticism by the local press and fans after two far from top notch performances in their victories over Guinea and Namibia. Yet here they put those stuttering displays behind them to turn on the style in front of a near capacity crowd at the 45,000 seater Ohene Djan Stadium.

Claude Le Roy, who won the title wiith Cameroon in 1988, said he wanted to thank his players.

“That was their best performance since I took over as Ghana manager. My players applied perfectly the way we’d decided to play. They were so dedicated, played so well, it was perfect. We’ve worked a lot on tactics in the last few days, and I organised things differently, giving Michael (Essien) more space in midfield.”

The tinkering paid off handsomely, with Essien conducting affairs in his usual assured manner in midfield.

Ghana went into a deserved lead on 26 minutes when Muntari neatly chipped in a freekick over the wall from the right for Essien to volley past Nadir Lamyaghri keeping goal for Morocco.

And the Cup hosts’ capped a fine first half with their second goal, with this time Essien charging through midfielder to flick the ball on for Muntari to shoot from the left of the box on 45 minutes.

Essien, after picking up his third consecutive man of the match award, said: “That was the best performance in this competition. For me I just want to do the best for my team, for my friends. Hopefully we can achieve something for the nation.”

Le Roy added that it wowuld have been hard for any side to live with Ghana playing like they did. “My players were so concentrated today any team would have struggled.”For Morocco captain Amin al-Erbate it was time to move on after the country’s second consecutive first round exit.

“We’ve got to forget this tournament and think of the future. We’ve got to look at the mmistakes we made. even if we’d won tooday we didn’t deserve to qualify after we slipped up against Guinea.”

”It was hard playing Ghana in front of their own public,” the United Arab Emirates-based player added.

Morocco coach Henri Michel said he had no intention of standing down.

“I only arrived a short time ago. We’ve got to look to the future.” He intimated that there woul likely be wholesale changes in the squad ahead of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

Guinea, after losing their opening game against Ghana, booked their quarter-final ticket with that win over Morocco and Monday’’s 1-1 draw with Namibia.

Naby Soumah opened the scoring for Guinea in the 62nd minute when he fired past Namibia goal tender Athiel Mbaha from inside the box but Namibia drew level in the 81st minute through a low shot from outside the area by Brian Blendel.

Guinea will have to do without the services of Feindouno again in their quarter-final, but Youla insisted: “We can also play without him!”Ghana and Guinea will find out who their last eight rivals are after Tuesday’s final batch of Group B games with already qualified Ivory Coast up against Mali, who only need a draw.

Nigeria face Benin in Sekondi in the group’s second game.—AFP