Super Eagles of Nigeria has reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday after a tense semi against Bafanà Bafanà of South Africa which went the distance.
Super Eagles of Nigeria has qualified for the finals of the 34th edition of the African Nations Cup currently going on in Cote d’Ivoire.
They defeated their South African opponents by 4-2 penalties after the game ended 1-1 after 120 minutes of play.
The match played Wednesday night at the Stade Bouake, Bouake Cote d’Ivoire saw both teams giving a good account of themselves with Bafana Bafana dominating the first stanza of the game with their tormentor in chief Percy Tau taking some good shots on goal but was denied by the excellent performance of Nigerian goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali.
Both teams tried to outdo each other in the first half but their efforts was not good enough to produce any goal thereby ending the half 0-0
The introduction of Samuel Chukwueze and Abdulahi Yusuf who came in for Alex Iwobi and Ademola Lookman respectively in the early part of the second half gave the Eagles the needed bite as they came into the game more determined and making regular incursions in their opponent goal area with victor Osimhen leading the attack
This paid off as Osimhen was hacked down in the penalty area in the 63rd minute by Maothobi Mvala and the stand in Captain William Trust Ekong wasted no time in converting the resultant penalty.
What would have been the second goal scored by Victor Osimhen was ruled offside by VAR which zoomed on Alhasan Yusuf commiting a foul against Percy Tau in the Nigerian goal area and the resultant penalty awarded to South Africa was converted to make the game 1-1.
After the full 90 minutes, the game went into extra time but no goal was scored by both sides. In the resultant penalty kick, Nigeria converted four while South Africa scored 2 to end the game 5-3 in favour of the Super Eagles who will now play either host nation Cote d’Ivoire in the finals on Sunday
UPDATE ON THE MATCH/ANALYSIS
Nigeria finally got there in the end! Victor Osimhen saw winner dramatically cancelled out by VAR awarding South Africa a penalty before Kelechi Iheanacho keeps his cool to send Super Eagles to AFCON final on spot kicks.
Nigeria opened scoring through Troost-Ekong penalty
South Africa equalised through Mokoena spot-kick
Iheanacho scores vital penalty as Nwabali stars in goal
Victor Osimhen threatened to miss Wednesday’s crunch fixture and Nigeria fans will have reeled in horror at the sight of him clutching his abdomen mere seconds into the match. But the Napoli talisman deemed himself fit to continue and made his mark in the second half. After several near-misses with his head, the African Player of the Year used his feet to leave the Bafana Bafana defence perplexed. Namely, Mothobi Mvala, who couldn’t deal with Osimhen’s pace and clattered the striker, leading to a clear penalty. As he did against Ivory Coast, captain William Troost-Ekong stepped up, squeezing his spot kick underneath
Victor Osimhen threatened to miss Wednesday’s crunch fixture and Nigeria fans will have reeled in horror at the sight of him clutching his abdomen mere seconds into the match. But the Napoli talisman deemed himself fit to continue and made his mark in the second half. After several near-misses with his head, the African Player of the Year used his feet to leave the Bafana Bafana defence perplexed. Namely, Mothobi Mvala, who couldn’t deal with Osimhen’s pace and clattered the striker, leading to a clear penalty. As he did against Ivory Coast, captain William Troost-Ekong stepped up, squeezing his spot kick underneath the sprawling Ronwen Williams.
Osimhen thought he had rounded out his fine performance with a late tap-in but a VAR check caused incredible drama in Bouake. The Napoli star’s strike was ruled out and South Africa were awarded a penalty following substitute Alhassan Yusuf’s rash challenge. Teboho Mokoena duly dispatched and set up some nervy closing stages for Nigeria, who clung on before an end-to-end extra-time period. Grant Kekana was sent off late on for South Africa after another VAR check, with penalties ultimately needed to separate the two sides. Kelechi Iheanacho was the hero as Stanley Nwabali starred in goal to send the Super Eagles through.