Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho converted the winning penalty as Nigeria’s Super Eagles held their nerve for a 4-2 shootout win over Nigeria’s Super Eagles to reach the AFCON final
The game ended 1-1 in regulation time and after 120 minutes.
There were no goals in the opening half of the game, which was dominated by Bafana Bafana.
It was always like to be a nervy semi-final, between two sides who went into the match having kept four consecutive clean sheets at AFCON.
But in the second half, The goal came midway through as and Osimhen was unsurprisingly involved. He drifted past the challenges, drove into the box, and went down as Mothobi Mvala stuck out a leg and tripped him.
Captain Troost-Ekong stepped up, to face a goalkeeper in Ronwen Williams who saved four penalties in South Africa’s quarter-final shootout win over Cape Verde. He could well have saved this one too, but Troost-Ekong’s spot-kick crept underneath him and into the back of the net.
The Super Eagles controlled the match well from that point and thought they had doubled their advantage with five minutes remaining, as Osimhen turned the ball home from a couple of yards out after good work from Osayi-Samuel.
But a VAR check deemed that Percy Tau had been fouled in the box at the other end in the build-up, as the referee returned from the monitor to disallow Osimhen’s goal and award South Africa a penalty in a remarkable turn of events.
That allowed Mokoena to equalize and, as the clock ticked into the 90th minute, he made no mistake from the spot.
South Africa piled on the pressure deep into stoppage-time and should really have won it, as Mokoena’s free-kick was parried out and Khuliso Mudau blasted over the rebound with the goal at his mercy.
However after both teams failed to find the winner the game went into penalties with Nwabali making two saves as the Eagles won 4-2.
The Chippa United goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali was the hero during penalty shootouts, as he saved two penalties to ensure the Super Eagles book a place in the final of the 2023 AFCON and won the man of the match award.
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