By Damola Emmanuel.
South Africa’s Bafana Bafana will be seething with vengeance, next Wednesday, as they square up against Cup favourites, Super Eagles of Nigeria, in the Semi-Final of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations.
The semi-final cracker will be played in Bouake, the second largest city in Cote D’Ivoire with a population of 740,000 (2021 census).
South Africa and Cape Verde, Saturday evening, played a barren draw in both regulation time and extra time, before Bafana Bafana won the game 2-1 during the penalty shoot-out.
With the win, South Africa now have a golden opportunity to avenge their 0-2 defeat in the hand of Nigeria during their last appearance in the AFCON semi-final in 2000.
The 1996 champions, who were coached then by Clive Barker, will also attempt to bridge a 24-place gap in FIFA rankings when they meet three-time winners, Nigeria, in Bouake on Wednesday.
After 120 minutes of a quarter final that was largely characterised by missed opportunities by both sides, South Africa edged out ‘unlucky’ Cape Verde, who lost four penalties to book their exit from the competition.
South Africa’s goalkeeper and Captain, Ronwen Williams, was a great inspiration to his team as he saved four shootout penalties. His excellent goalkeeping and heroic saves kept the match 0-0 at both full time and extra time.
Goalkeeper Williams denied Bebe, Willy Semedo, Laros Duarte and Bryan Teixeira through his spectacular saves. He had earlier made a magical late save tipping Gilson Benchimol’s first-time strike against the woodwork as extra time loomed.
Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha also made two exceptional saves in quick succession shortly after extra time began to deny Mihlali Mayambela and Teboho Mokoena respectively.