Nigerians celebrate tense semi-final win

Afrobeats tunes competing with cheers, Nigerians celebrated a tense penalty victory over South Africa on Wednesday night as their team advanced to the Africa Cup of Nations finals after a scrappy semi-final match.Substitute Kelechi Iheanacho handed Nigeria a 4-2 penalty shootout victory over South Africa after their knock-out game in Bouake, Ivory Coast.Both regular-time goals came from penalties with captain William Troost-Ekong scoring after 67 minutes for Nigeria and Teboho Mokoena equalising from a spot-kick. One Nigerian goal was disallowed, adding to the drama.The match ended 1-1 after extra time and Nigeria, the three-time African champions, will now face hosts Ivory Coast in the final on Sunday.Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro admits their semifinal could have gone either way, but in the end his side deserved to progress to Sunday’s decider as they held their nerve in the penalty shootout.Nigeria, led by Chippa United goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, triumphed 4-2 in the shoot-out to set up a final against hosts Ivory Coast. South Africa will meet DR Congo for the bronze medal on Saturday.“The players deserve to be in the final, it’s a very good victory against a good team,” Peseiro said.“I said it earlier that South Africa have the best of organisation at this tournament because they play together (at Mamelodi Sundowns), and they created more problems for us. It was very difficult to beat them.“Huge congratulations to (Bafana coach) Hugo Broos, who put this team together. They played well.“They defended well, they pushed, they pressured, they manage the ball well with quality. They have players with good quality. Like I expected, it was difficult to beat them. For that I say congratulations to my team.”– SuperSport/AFP

Nigerians celebrate tense semi-final win

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