Nigeria sealed their place in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) Final for the first time since winning the tournament in 2013 after a dramatic victory over South Africa
Having won 4 successive matches to ‘nil’ in the tournament, Nigeria travelled to Bouake in pursuit of a place in the Final of the tournament.
South Africa playing in their first AFCON Semifinal in 24 years promised to be full of excitement. Bafana Bafana created chances for themselves but the Nigerian shot stopper Stanley Nwabali was up to the task
Victor Osimhen bodied his way through the South African defence, then brought down in the 18 yard area awarding Nigeria a penalty which was converted by the Nigerian Skipper Troost-Ekong.
There was still time for a dramatic twist as Osimhen thought he had put Nigeria 2-0 up only for the goal to be ruled out for a foul on South Africa’s Tau in the Nigerian 18 yard area which resulted in a penalty for South Africa to bring the game to 1-1
A red card was shown to South African’s Grant Kekana for stopping a chance at goal with a late challenge on Nigeria’s Terem Moffi. However Nigeria was unable to capitalize on their numerical advantage as the contest headed into Penalties.
South Africa missed 2 of their penalties with the Nigerian Shot stopper saving twice to deny Mokoena and Makgopa which allowed Kelechi Iheanacho to stroke home the decisive penalty sending Nigeria to the Final of the 2023 African Cup of Nations against the winners of host Ivory Coast or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
