Ivory Coast, one of the hot tournament favourites, beat fellow west African giants Nigeria 1-0 in the crunch Group B tie of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations here on Monday.
The winning goal came in the 66th minute through Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou, who meandered through a packed Nigerian defence to slot the ball past a hapless Austin Ejide in the Nigerian goal.
"It is great to be picked as the man-of-the-match but what really mattered was that we played as a team and won as a team," said Kalou.
The Ivorians thus achieved a repeat result of the semi-finals two years ago in Egypt when a contentious Didier Drogba goal proved to be the difference between the two west African rivals.
Kalou's brilliant solo goal came just after Nigeria's Obafemi Martins was set clear on goal only for goalkeeper Boubacar Barry to come off his lines to make a point-blank save.
Exciting Lyon winger Kader Keita would have doubled this lead soon after when he went past Taye Taiwo but his effort missed the target with just Ejide to beat.
The Super Eagles fought hard after this setback but never quite managed to trouble a defence well marshalled by Arsenal centre half Kolo Toure and supported by Germany-based Arthur Boka.
Nigeria enjoyed a good first half with both Obafemi Martins and Taiwo coming close in the first quarter of an hour. Martins shot stung the hands of Ivorian goalkeeper Barry and moments later Taiwo's shot from 30 metres smashed against the crossbar to the relief of their opponents.
Ivory Coast also had chances to take the lead in the first 45 minutes. Aruna Dindane was denied his moment of glory just before the break by a timely tackle from Everton defender Joseph Yobo.
The first period was played at a blistering pace, leading to end-to-end action as well as bookings for several players including Martins, Taiwo and Seyi Olofinjana, and Steve Gohouri on the Ivorian side.