Nigeria moves to the AFCON finals after beating South Africa at penalty shootouts, Nwabali saves the day

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The Super Eagles of Nigeria beat unfortunate South Africa in a closely-contested game today at Bouaké, Ivory Coast, thereby booking a spot in the AFCON final. Nigeria’s Stanley Nwabali was a glorious sight during the penalty shootouts.

Though Nigeria came behind in the two first halves and the latter ones, they put a commendable level of pressure on the Bafana Bafana’s defense.

South Africa dominated the game and struck several times, but the Super Eagles’ defensive ability stopped the men in white from shaking the net.

During the second half, Nigeria was awarded a penalty kick, after a good VAR check showed that a foul committed in the South Africans’ box deserved one.

William Troost-Ekong narrowly missed the net after goalkeeper Ronwen Williams followed the ball to the left, but the sphere went underneath the keeper, putting Nigeria one point ahead.

Minutes later, Victor Osimhen’s goal had to be cancelled because of a wrong tackle executed in Nigeria’s box. This set the stage for a penalty kick after a VAR check. T. Mokoena netted for his team, putting the game back to normal.

Neither team could score in the extra halves, thereby setting up a penalty shootout.

However, Nigeria ruled supreme during the shootout, missing only one goal by Aina’s too-high kick.

But Goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali stopped two balls on their tracks to put Nigeria ahead twice.

Kelechi Iheanacho scored the final goal for Nigeria, sending the Super Eagles into the final.

Another unfortunate thing that happened to South Africa apart from being beaten was that they had to play with one man less, after G. Kekana collected a red card during the 115th minute.