Osimhen and Nigeria progress to AFCON final in dramatic fashion

A penalty shoot-out proved the deciding factor in a dramatic AFCON semi-final clash between Victor Osimhen’s Nigeria and South Africa.

The Napoli striker managed to recover from a brief bout of abdominal pain and started for the Super Eagles in their decisive clash with Bafana Bafana, a game that decided which team would face the victor of Ivory Coast-DR Congo in the Africa Cup of Nations final on February 11^th.

Osimhen has been an important figure for Nigeria in their AFCON run up to this point, scoring once and providing two assists, and he was ultimately involved in the centre of late drama in their semi-final clash with South Africa.

Nigeria took a 1-0 lead in the 67^th minute through a William Troost-Ekong penalty and seemed to be on track to secure victory, until the match turned on its head in the final five minutes.

Osimhen thought he’d capped off the Super Eagles’ victory with his tap-in goal in the 85^th minute following a counterattack, but a VAR check chalked off the advantage due to a foul at the start of the move.

This foul occurred in the penalty area, so South Africa were awarded a spot kick with just minutes left to play. Teboho Mokoena stepped up and made no mistake from 12 yards out, taking the semi-final to extra time.

Osimhen was brought off in the 110^th minute, forced to watch on as the match went on to a penalty shoot-out. Nigeria ultimately prevailed, securing a 4-2 victory to send them to Sunday’s final.