AFCON: Nigeria 🆚 South Africa, all you need to know

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will lock horns with the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in one of the semifinals of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) today.

It’s a case of ‘here we go again’ for Nigeria, who have reached the AFCON semi-finals for a record 15th time. It’s not always been a stage that’s treated the Nigerians well though, as five of their last six appearances in the semifinal have actually ended in defeat – the one exception being in 2013 when they went on to lift the trophy.

South Africa were the hosts in that year, and it’s South Africa providing the opposition here. The West Africans have won all three of their previous meetings at the Africa Cup of Nations, and have the better head-to-head record and are the highest-ranked side remaining in Ivory Coast.

On the back of four successive wins ‘to nil’ at this tournament, it’s difficult to look past the Super Eagles as they flock to Bouaké for the first time in this AFCON so far.

That left them with a near 450 km trip from their quarter-final venue of Abidjan, and while South Africa had a much less taxing 110 km journey, they had to endure extra time and penalties to squeeze past Cape Verde in their last eight tie.

Goalkeeper Ronwen Williams was the hero behind the victory, as he became the first shot stopper in AFCON history to save four penalties in a single shootout. His heroics secured Bafana Bafana a first AFCON semi-finals appearance in 24 years.

The 1996 champions Bafana Bafana have already knocked out Morocco, Africa’s top-ranked side, and will aim to avenge the pain of past meetings with Nigeria when appearing in the semifinal for the first time since 2000 – when they were beaten 2-0 by the Super Eagles at the National Stadium in Lagos.

Hopes ought to be high of avoiding a repeat here given, like their counterparts, they too are on a run of four clean sheets at this tournament, suggesting this clash could well be a cagey, tense affair.

Players to watch: Ademola Lookman is the leading scorer for the Super Eagles in the tournament. He has scored three goals so far. Another player to look out for is William Troost-Ekong. He does have one to his name at this AFCON already and he also netted the winner last time these two sides met in 2019. South Africa’s Teboho Mokoena will be keen to have a say too, potentially a late one, given four of his five goals have served as the last of the game.

The game will go down at the Stade de la Paix, Bouake, Côte d’Ivoire today by 6pm Nigeria time.