Africa Football Discussion || Current Topic: AFCON 2025 Qualifiers - CAF.

[Abu-Naim]

These Afcon games have surprised me, but in a negative way, the last few games have been full of drama and few goals, with the few goals being penalties. Let's look at the case of Nigeria:

Nigeria 1 - 1 equatorial guinea
Nigeria 1 - 0 Ivory Coast
Nigeria 1 - 0 guinea bissau
Nigeria 2 - 0 Cameroon
Nigeria 1 - 0 Angola
Nigeria 1 - 1 South Africa

This means that the Super Eagles of Nigeria has conceded just two goals in overall in the four matches they played so far, and they scored one goal each in four of the matches and scored two goals in their knockout stage match against Cameroon.
The Super Eagles were lucky and they have good defenders which is why they were able to maintain four clean sheets and Nwambali who is the Super Eagles goal keeper is doing a great job including the penalty saves he did today against the Bafanabafana of South Africa.

and today the Ivory Coast can go to the final, it is unbelievable to see how the finalist teams perform at that level and yet one of these teams will be champion and this is not just about these two teams, there are other teams that also failed to score many goals . When will we see an Afcon with lots of goals and a worthy team that won convincingly and became champions? It seems like this Afcon is rigged, that's why I haven't been watching these games, I prefer to just see the final result and the highlights

Scoring too much goals is not the main, in fact this show that all teams in the tournament prepared well to the competition, only teams with experienced players are making it with little amount of goals they are scoring.

[Ndabagi01]

South Africa waited for majority of the game for the penalty shootout only to lose to Nigeria is the best thing I've seen today!  Ngl, that was one hell of a game and for a moment there I told South Africa will qualify ahead of Nigeria for the first spot of the Afcon final.

Anybody noticed the mind games that were played with Williams, the south African goalkeeper? Play first two penalties of the game in the middle. Then he decided to take a stance in the middle for the second penalty of Nigeria's PK shootout and they played it into a corner. Haha

So much to say but I'd hit the pause here and continue watching this Ivory Coast game.

South African teams wanted to take advantage of penalties because they have a good keeper who can save them. They were unaware that the Nigerian players had a better penalty kick taker than them, which gave us an advantage during the penalty shootout. From the second half of extra time, when the South African players continued to pass the ball at home and refused to attack, I knew they were waiting for the game to go to penalty shootouts so they could win. They wanted to prove their smartness, but Nigerians were smarter.

When will we see an Afcon with lots of goals and a worthy team that won convincingly and became champions? It seems like this Afcon is rigged, that's why I haven't been watching these games, I prefer to just see the final result and the highlights

You should start following the competition from now, perhaps after this year's African Cup of Nations, and continue to do so in the future. The AFCON competition has been full of interesting moments, and the introduction of VAR to the game has been extremely beneficial, making the competition more transparent than it was previously. If you haven't been watching, take your time and watch the final match; you'll enjoy it and see how African teams have improved in football on their own continent.

[gabbie2010]

Nigeria used experience to contain a very good south Africa  team. What a game although I played Nigeria on my bet to win but it ended up on penalties. Poor display from Nigeria midfield, Alex iwobi was completely out of the game, but victor osimhen continue to show class. Nigeria have a chance on winning the AFCON because of the quality they have, they should step up their game in the finals.

Honestly it was experience of the Nigerian team players that kept the South Africans at bay,  they played infact beyond my expectations and coupled with the fact that the bulk of their players are home based who plays for mamelodi sundowns, it very obvious they have a very good team work and played possessive football as well as outplayed the Super Eagle at the midfield where Nwobi who was a shadow of former self he didn't perform well, credits to the South Africans they proved their ability and played with full strength forcing the match till extra time and penalty shootout, of course they still have the opportunity of playing a third place match to possibly get a third place medal.

[Oluwa-btc]

Nigeria had a penalty, William Troost-Ekong scored. Nigeria had the second goal which was scored by Victor Osimhen before a penalty was given to South Africa and the goal Nigeria scored was cancelled. From what that actually happened, that was what that should happen and no cheating but Nigeria was just not favoured with neutral judgement and it was 87 minutes to the end of the match. There was extra time and penalties were played. Nigeria won the penalties. Congratulations to Nigerians. The match was interesting.

Now we are waiting for Ivory Coast versus Dr Congo to play which will soon start, so that we can know the other country that will qualify for this AFCON final. I am hoping Nigeria would win the cup this year.

With all due respect we've seen and played all of them best sides in this African Cup of Nations Cup Competition and we've also triumphed against them all.
This exact game seems to be like the most difficult of them all as we headed into the final minutes with the lead only to be dragged back with that penalty call from the Var honestly.

It was another night to see Nigeria United as one. I think football has been thee only thing keeping the people and inhabitants of Nigeria kickin'. Great night, Great game. Commiseration to them Southie and Congratulations to the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Road to the Fvckn Finals. Jesus Bloody Christ!!

[Rruchi man]

This means that the Super Eagles of Nigeria has conceded just two goals in overall in the four matches they played so far, and they scored one goal each in four of the matches and scored two goals in their knockout stage match against Cameroon.
The Super Eagles were lucky and they have good defenders which is why they were able to maintain four clean sheets and Nwambali who is the Super Eagles goal keeper is doing a great job including the penalty saves he did today against the Bafanabafana of South Africa.

Many people said that the Nigerian goalkeeper had not been tested enough in the competition because of the very good defense that in Nigerian team have. South Africans had their shot today, tested him and Nwabali proved that he did not get his position in the Nigerian tea by chance and mistake, but due to his recognized talent. The South Africans played really well, they deserve to win bronze in this competition, their tactics almost worked against the Super Eagles.

If Nigeria can get to the finals as we have, I believe we will win it too, and not Ivory Coast or Dr Congo will be able to stop us!

[Cryptoprincess101]

Nigeria used experience to contain a very good south Africa  team. What a game although I played Nigeria on my bet to win but it ended up on penalties. Poor display from Nigeria midfield, Alex iwobi was completely out of the game, but victor osimhen continue to show class. Nigeria have a chance on winning the AFCON because of the quality they have, they should step up their game in the finals.

This is the very first time I have devoted my time to watch the super eagles play and I must say that I am delighted and Nigeria is blessed with young talented players even though the South Africans played more better but the Nigeria side also deserves some praises because it's not easy to conquer all the African teams they played with and qualify for the finals and with the confidence that the eagles showed in this match even after a controversial VAR decision almost ruined their chances but yet they went ahead and won the South Africans on penalties but they should do more better in the finals so that they can lift the trophy. I commend the super eagles goal keeper for his commitment to ensure that he made some saves right from when the match began till during the penalties he really did well for Nigerians.

[nelson4lov]

South Africa waited for majority of the game for the penalty shootout only to lose to Nigeria is the best thing I've seen today!  Ngl, that was one hell of a game and for a moment there I told South Africa will qualify ahead of Nigeria for the first spot of the Afcon final.

Anybody noticed the mind games that were played with Williams, the south African goalkeeper? Play first two penalties of the game in the middle. Then he decided to take a stance in the middle for the second penalty of Nigeria's PK shootout and they played it into a corner. Haha

So much to say but I'd hit the pause here and continue watching this Ivory Coast game.

South African teams wanted to take advantage of penalties because they have a good keeper who can save them. They were unaware that the Nigerian players had a better penalty kick taker than them, which gave us an advantage during the penalty shootout. From the second half of extra time, when the South African players continued to pass the ball at home and refused to attack, I knew they were waiting for the game to go to penalty shootouts so they could win. They wanted to prove their smartness, but Nigerians were smarter.

Well, too bad for them. The commentators even mentioned it during the game that the Entire South Africa bench was happy when the game was heading to extra time knowing fully well that a penalty shootout was in sight. I'm confused why they won't commit more to the game and hope less on penalties? Play out your heart and if push comes to shove, get lucky with penalties not the other way round. Good for their team to get kicked out of the tournament via the same penalties they had all hopes on.

When will we see an Afcon with lots of goals and a worthy team that won convincingly and became champions? It seems like this Afcon is rigged, that's why I haven't been watching these games, I prefer to just see the final result and the highlights

There have been some high scoring games like The EQ 4-0 win against Ivory and Senegal's group stage wins. Even in European games like Euro 2020, there are more low scoring games than high scoring games. I do think that is normal and most teams are commuted to defend rather than commit more men forward. It is normal everywhere.
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[Sandra_hakeem]

I watched the game throughout - and the more I tried to distract myself by the occurrences, the more I kept being worried about the fate of our dear country... But it turned out so well.
At the time when the second goal got cancelled, the air was dense and the pressure was captivating - south Africa had no choice than to play with the little time they had - and as a result of their desperation, they awarded themselves a red card.... I never thought the super eagles would do so well in the penalties though.

Sandra 🧑‍🦰

[Mr.suevie]

Nigeria used experience to contain a very good south Africa  team. What a game although I played Nigeria on my bet to win but it ended up on penalties. Poor display from Nigeria midfield, Alex iwobi was completely out of the game, but victor osimhen continue to show class. Nigeria have a chance on winning the AFCON because of the quality they have, they should step up their game in the finals.

Honestly it was experience of the Nigerian team players that kept the South Africans at bay,  they played infact beyond my expectations and coupled with the fact that the bulk of their players are home based who plays for mamelodi sundowns, it very obvious they have a very good team work and played possessive football as well as outplayed the Super Eagle at the midfield where Nwobi who was a shadow of former self he didn't perform well, credits to the South Africans they proved their ability and played with full strength forcing the match till extra time and penalty shootout, of course they still have the opportunity of playing a third place match to possibly get a third place medal.

In terms of performance, I think I will like to beg the differ on this case because when it's comes to chances created and missed Nigeria really had  lots of opportunities to seal off the games especially in the second half of play, it was not until the equalizing penalty that the antelope scored that gave them that extra ginger to actually win this game but like we say it here we actually did not agree for anyone. Nigeria have had series of success when it comes to competition playoff and Nigeria did well to maintain that status once more again.

[Iroh]

I am not really impressed with the way Nigeria played today,they were so defensive,only for Osimhen who stepped up and showed class,I would have said the rest were playing under pressure.In the first half of the game,South Africa really played well and controlled the game,and I didn't even expect that,I thought the game was going to end in either 1-0 or 2-0 in favour of Nigeria,but it turned,making them go into extra time where Nigera won.We don't know who they are going to play next,but Nigeria needs to work well and have a team spirit because if they should meet a much better side,they will win them.The only thing I love most about them is that they are very solid defensively.

I watched the game and I too thought Nigeria played more of a defensive game than an attacking one. They seemingly came alive during the second half and played a lot better than they did in the first half of the game. I don’t think they were playing under pressure(well perhaps in the first half) but during the second half, they seemed more coordinated, although still playing more of a defensive ball, which was in a way successful as they defended their goal pretty well if not for the penalty.

Great game and good football from both sides. The better side came out the victor in the end.

[AYOBA]

It wasn't as though South Africa team was that good at penalty kicks, it was just that they they played against a cape Verde team that was bad at taking penalty kicks and it made it look as though the South Africa goalie was that good at saving penalty kicks which was one of the fears of many Nigerians that the game shouldn't lead to extra time thereby ending in penalty shoot outs. But from all that has happened tonight it's obvious that Nigeria was a better side than the bafana bafana boys and Nwabali is better in keeping savings than the South Africa goalie. Now Nigeria has qualified for the finals, congrats to them.

My sincere congrats to the Super Eagles! To be honest, Nigeria has performed admirably this season versus South Africa. Since the South African goalie stopped nearly four shots against Cape Verde, many Nigerian supporters were terrified of the penalty kick; this gave South Africa hope that the match would go to penalties. However, the Nigerian goalie truly won over everyone tonight because nobody had anticipated such a strong showing from him. Stanley Nwabali was the most deserving person of all. He might wind up starting the competition as goalie. Nwabali made the Super Eagles proud tonight, and for that, we are all proud of him. Because he puts in so much effort, the Super Eagles goalie truly deserves to be named man of the match.

Currently the game between Ivory coast vs Congo is ongoing with a goaless draw at the moment. Any team that wins tonight will be meeting Nigeria in the finals on Sunday 9th.

Indeed, Nigeria has reached the final with complete peace of mind and is just awaiting their opponent for the following round, which is the last stage of the competition. They've already played the first half, and tonight's second half is still in progress. Because they still have time left before the game finishes, it will never be predict that the Ivory Coast are be the one play Nigeria in the final, even though that their leading Congo by 1goal.

[snipie]

Many people said that the Nigerian goalkeeper had not been tested enough in the competition because of the very good defense that in Nigerian team have. South Africans had their shot today, tested him and Nwabali proved that he did not get his position in the Nigerian tea by chance and mistake, but due to his recognized talent. The South Africans played really well, they deserve to win bronze in this competition, their tactics almost worked against the Super Eagles.

If Nigeria can get to the finals as we have, I believe we will win it too, and not Ivory Coast or Dr Congo will be able to stop us!

It appears that Super Eagles will play against Ivory Coast in the final match unless a surprise occurring in their currently played game. Ivory Coast are leading with 1 goal with 10 minutes left in the match.
Nigeria made a mistake letting South Africa getting the draw and they were lucky they didn't waste them. This shouldn't occur in the final game because it will be very annoying to lose the Cup just because of penalties after all the efforts made by them.

[Egii Nna]

I watched the game throughout - and the more I tried to distract myself by the occurrences, the more I kept being worried about the fate of our dear country... But it turned out so well.
At the time when the second goal got cancelled, the air was dense and the pressure was captivating - south Africa had no choice than to play with the little time they had - and as a result of their desperation, they awarded themselves a red card.... I never thought the super eagles would do so well in the penalties though.

Sandra 🧑‍🦰

I also felt the same for Nigeria to lose in the penalties, because the South African goalkeeper was so good to the extent that I lost hope of us Nigeria going to the finals. Although the game today was such a heartbreaking game when the match was still ongoing, which finally came a win for the Super Eagles to go to the final, the Super Eagles played well in today’s game, but I felt a high pain when they cancelled the second goal, which after some minutes South Africa got their goal to still equalise, but Nigeria has been the giant of Africa and also the greatest of all time hard victory over South Africa, and now they will be getting ready for the final.

The final, from all indications, will be Nigeria against Lvory Coast because there is has single goal against DR Congo, and from the performance of the game, Lvory Coast might win the match, and if that happens, all hope will be bestowed against Nigeria to bring the trophy back home because it will be very hard for Lvory Coast to win Nigeria in the final, but we will surely anticipate and see which of the both teams are going to face Nigeria in the finals.

[SatoPrincess]

I also felt the same for Nigeria to lose in the penalties, because the South African goalkeeper was so good to the extent that I lost hope of us Nigeria going to the finals. Although the game today was such a heartbreaking game when the match was still ongoing, which finally came a win for the Super Eagles to go to the final, the Super Eagles played well in today’s game, but I felt a high pain when they cancelled the second goal, which after some minutes South Africa got their goal to still equalise, but Nigeria has been the giant of Africa and also the greatest of all time hard victory over South Africa, and now they will be getting ready for the final.

The final, from all indications, will be Nigeria against Lvory Coast because there is has single goal against DR Congo, and from the performance of the game, Lvory Coast might win the match, and if that happens, all hope will be bestowed against Nigeria to bring the trophy back home because it will be very hard for Lvory Coast to win Nigeria in the final, but we will surely anticipate and see which of the both teams are going to face Nigeria in the finals.

The game was full of surprises. My heart dropped when the referee cancelled Victor Osimhen’s goal and awarded South Africa a penalty. Bafana Bafana were playing the second half of extra time like they wanted the game to go to penalty shootout. They assumed they had the advantage if we met in a penalty shootout, their goalkeeper was incredible against Cape Verde, and our very own Nwabali had conceded his first goal in the tournament. It looked like South Africa were going to win the penalties for sure. But God was on our side. Congratulations to Nigeria.

[Orpichukwu]

and today the Ivory Coast can go to the final, it is unbelievable to see how the finalist teams perform at that level and yet one of these teams will be champion and this is not just about these two teams, there are other teams that also failed to score many goals . When will we see an Afcon with lots of goals and a worthy team that won convincingly and became champions? It seems like this Afcon is rigged, that's why I haven't been watching these games, I prefer to just see the final result and the highlights

Lol, what do you mean by AFCON being rigged? Do you expect the winning teams to always be roping with 3–10 goals before you can say they are righteous or they merit it, and the point that they use in computing the table is also based on how many goals?
 
I just think this year at the AFCON, the winning teams focus mainly on playing smart rather than just scoring goals, which might not lead them anywhere.
 
The AFCON is being watched live and transparently for everyone to see how the point scoring is being done. I don't see any rigging here, although some can argue that the game is not going according to how they want it to be.

[ingiltere]

I was kinda expecting Ivory Coast - Nigeria final, isn't that normal? Both teams are the best among others. Nigeria had hard times against South Africa but they advanced through penalties. They should've won the game in regular time. And Ivory Coast, they have Haller, he's not in his prime due to injuries but he scored at the right time. I feel sorry for Masuaku and Muleka. Though Desabre didn't even play him, instead he chose finished player Bakambu and his team failed to score. Poor choices won't get you to finals.
The final will be interesting. I don't have a favorite, I see Nigeria one step ahead but anything is possible. It's only 90 minutes.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

South Africa can be very dangerous because they have one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament that made them to qualify to this stage after saving some penalty kicks from the last match. I think the safest thing for Nigeria at this point is for them to win during this extra time play without going into penalties.

Yes, it's true that the South African players hungered for penalty kicks due to how good their Goalkeeper was, of which they thought they could win same way they won against "Cape Verde", but to their greatest surprised today, we gave South Africans the Eagle-style (i.e winning their acclaimed best keeper 4 goals out of 5 penalty kicks), of which I'm sure that goals would have been 5 goals, if not that "Aina" throw away our third penalty kick across to goal post, if not that would have been 5 straight winning, because Moffi, Omeruo, Troost Ekong, Iheanacho all made a clean goal. Hence, we can wait to see the Super Eagles of Nigeria bring the trophy home this forthcoming AFCON final coming up very soon.

[Hyphen(-)]

It appears that Super Eagles will play against Ivory Coast in the final match unless a surprise occurring in their currently played game. Ivory Coast are leading with 1 goal with 10 minutes left in the match.
Nigeria made a mistake letting South Africa getting the draw and they were lucky they didn't waste them. This shouldn't occur in the final game because it will be very annoying to lose the Cup just because of penalties after all the efforts made by them.

It is confirmed, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will be playing against the host country Ivory Coast in the final of the AFCON 2024. Many people predicted that Nigeria will be facing the host team and it has happened, the winner will be decide on the final day.

Stanley Nwabali is a hero of the match today, he gave the team the support they want from his side and he make sure he compose them in the back line.

[Jaycoinz]

I was kinda expecting Ivory Coast - Nigeria final, isn't that normal? Both teams are the best among others. Nigeria had hard times against South Africa but they advanced through penalties. They should've won the game in regular time. And Ivory Coast, they have Haller, he's not in his prime due to injuries but he scored at the right time. I feel sorry for Masuaku and Muleka. Though Desabre didn't even play him, instead he chose finished player Bakambu and his team failed to score. Poor choices won't get you to finals.
The final will be interesting. I don't have a favorite, I see Nigeria one step ahead but anything is possible. It's only 90 minutes.

And 90mins is all they need to win it, I think Nigeria will be going into this game with a slight advantage knowing fully well that they have once defeated the elephant of ivory coast and if that plays in their head, then it will be cost of their demise at the finals because the ivorian have had to do all their assignment and did well at that because they went back to the drawing board and corrected their selves and came out stronger than before which have successfully earn them a place in the finals.

[Asiska02]

Many people said that the Nigerian goalkeeper had not been tested enough in the competition because of the very good defense that in Nigerian team have. South Africans had their shot today, tested him and Nwabali proved that he did not get his position in the Nigerian tea by chance and mistake, but due to his recognized talent. The South Africans played really well, they deserve to win bronze in this competition, their tactics almost worked against the Super Eagles.

If Nigeria can get to the finals as we have, I believe we will win it too, and not Ivory Coast or Dr Congo will be able to stop us!

The Ivory Coast team have just qualified for the 2023 African Cup of Nations final to be played on Sunday. After seeing their performance against DR Congo in the semifinals tonight, they look very tough and not like we saw them in the group stage matches that we won against them. Their goal scorer was such a clinical striker that needs to be marked well when playing against them in the finals. I have confidence in Nigeria that they can still win the final match on Sunday but I don’t think it will be that easy for them against Ivory Coast as they had it in the group stage. Both teams that qualified to the final really played well and they both deserve their final spot in the competition.