Will it go West or South? The mouth-watering AFCON clash between Nigeria and S.Africa
It is a do or die African Cup of Nations quarter final clash pitting the Super Eagles of Nigeria against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa on Wednesday night at 1900GMT.
Both West African and South African soccer enthusiasts are beaming with confidence that their respective teams will walk over the other with their eyes focused on the semi-final ticket in Cairo Egypt.
South Africa were the surprise package beating the hosts of the 2019 tournament Egypt 1-0 in the round of 16.What followed was resignations of soccer officials in the land of Pharaoh.
“That match, I think it’s going to be a great match, because it’s not going to be our first time to beat Nigeria. We did before so we can make it, especially these guys know that they have been promised with big cash, that’s why on my side I hope the coach won’t change the squad. The previous squad, they must just keep them like that because those guys are in high hopes of getting some nice cars, and nice houses, so we are there for them,” says Terence Masiza, also from Cape Town.
Nigerians after a shock 2-0 defeat to the debutants Madagascar in the group stages, they staged a dramatic comeback to book a quarter final place after 3-2 win over bitter rivals Cameroon.
But there is a feeling that the Super Eagles, who won the 2013 tournament before incredibly failing to qualify in 2015 and 2017, could have made life easier for themselves.
“Nobody is perfect in football, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but what I believe is that we will win South Africa because we always win them…we always win them, when coming to African Cup of Nations,” says Gabriel Hemba, a football player who lives in Abuja, Nigeria.
South Africa, who hosted AFCON in 2013, beat Nigeria away in their opening match of the AFCON qualifiers in June 2017 before being held to 1-1 in the return leg.
Head to head stats
Date Match Result Competition
14 Aug 2013 South Africa v Nigeria W 0-2 International Friendly
10 Sep 2014 South Africa v Nigeria D 0-0 Africa Cup of Nations
19 Nov 2014 Nigeria v South Africa D 2-2 Africa Cup of Nations
29 Mar 2015 South Africa v Nigeria D 1-1 International Friendly
10 Jun 2017 Nigeria v South Africa L 0-2 Africa Cup of Nations
17 Nov 2018 South Africa v Nigeria D 1-1 Africa Cup of Nations
The Bafana Bafana have been in the doldrums in recent years and, before this year’s tournament, had not won an AFCON finals match outside South Africa since 2004 when they beat Tunisia. They have also missed the last two World Cups.
