Bafana Bafana beat Nigeria 2-0 in Afcon qualifier

Bafana Bafana of South Africa yesterday defeated the Super Eagles of Nigeria 2-0 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Uyo. Two second half goals from Tokelo Rantie and Percy Tau were enough to earn the South Africans all three points.

The Nigerian coach Gernot Rohr fielded his strongest XI with an attack which included Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi and Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho.

It looked as if the Eagles would have the day after firing their first shot on goal in the 11th minute.

Midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the South African box, but his volley went wide of Itumeleng Khune’s goal.

The South Africans were struggling to contain the pacey Nigerian attack and with 22 minutes on the clock, the home side had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring.

Oghenekaro Etebo surged into the box undetected by the South African defence, but he failed to test the South African keeper with a shot from close range.

Soon after, Khune was once again at alert as he smartly tipped over a Moses Simon cross.

Against the run of play on the 41 minutes, South Africa were almost gifted a goal after Nigerian goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi, dropped a Tebogo Langerman cross into the path of Themba Zwane. But the 27-year-old could only watch on as his shot cannoned off the woodwork.

And after the interval on the 54th minute, Tokelo Rantie broke the deadlock after latching onto a sublime cross from Ramahlwe Mphahlele and squeezed his header past Akpeyi.

The goal seemed to spur South Africa in confidence and in response Nigeria threw on Ahmed Musa as they looked to inject some much-needed pace into the attack.

With 20 minutes remaining, South Africa had a brilliant opportunity to kill off the game through Zwane. But once again, the goalpost came to Nigeria’s rescue.

All efforts made by the Nigerians to level proceedings proved abortive as the South African defence stood firm and repelled all dangers.

With few minutes left, Percy Tau profited from a through pass by Keagan Dolly, and finished off to make it a memorable 2-0 victory.