- It’s barely two hours away from the much-anticipated match between Nigeria and South Africa
- Interestingly, the progression of the football teams at the AFCON 2023 tournament is accompanied by a substantial reward and other cash gifts as well as bonuses
- As it stands, Nigeria has the highest expected goals tally and the biggest chances at AFCON 2023
Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.
By 6:00pm today, Nigerian time, The Super Eagles of Nigeria will slug it out with the Bafana Bafana of South Africa, in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) semi-finals.
Photo credit: @NGSuperEagles, @CAF_Online
Source: Getty Images
This came after Nigeria beat Cameroon (2-0) and Angola (1-0) in the knockout rounds.
Similarly, South Africa will battle with the Nigerian squad so as to progress to the final stage following their victory 2-1 against Cape Verde on Saturday, February 3.
Below are the facts and figures for the upcoming match as compiled by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Wednesday, February 7:
● According to CAF, this match will be the fourth encounter between Nigeria and South Africa at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, with the Super Eagles winning the previous three by an aggregate score of 8-1.
● Nigeria and South Africa last met in the semi-finals at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in 2000, with the Super Eagles running out 2-0 winners thanks to a brace from Tijani Babangida.
● Nigeria are playing in a record 15th semi-final at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, while they’ve only progressed from one of their last six at this stage of the competition, going on to win the competition in South Africa in 2013.
● Nigeria have won their last four AFCON games without conceding; they could keep five consecutive clean sheets in the competition for the first time since March 1982 (W4 D1), while they’ve never done so when winning all five games.
● South Africa are playing in their fourth semi-final at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations and their first since 2000 when they were eliminated by opponents Nigeria (2-0).
● South Africa have kept four consecutive clean sheets at the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time (W2 D2), while it’s as many as they’d recorded in their previous 21 matches in the competition combined.
● Nigeria have just three different goal scorers (excluding own goals) at AFCON 2023 (Lookman, Osimhen and Troost-Ekong), their fewest in a single edition since 2008 (2, Yakubu and Mikel).
● South Africa have had six shots following a high turnover at AFCON 2023, only Egypt have had more (7), while only Morocco (9) have had more direct attacks than the Bafana Bafana (8) in the competition this year.
● Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen has only scored one goal despite attempting the most shots (19) at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations – a shot conversion rate of 5.3%, with an expected goals tally of 3.09; he’s underperforming his xG by a bigger margin than any other player (-2.09).
● Nigeria have the highest expected goals (8.59) tally and the most big chances (18) at AFCON 2023, with all six of their goals coming inside the box – only Côte d’Ivoire (46) have had more shots from inside the box than the Super Eagles (44).
● Themba Zwane has been directly involved in 50% (3/6) of South Africa’s goals at AFCON 2023 (two goals, one assist), while he could become the first Bafana Bafana player to score three goals in a single edition of AFCON since Shaun Bartlett in 2000 (5).
NFF says Super Eagles will win 2023 AFCON
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) attributed the Super Eagles’ victory against Angola to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
NFF President Ibrahim Gusau, who stated this in Abidjan on Saturday, February 3, thanked Tinubu for his support, emphasizing the president’s commitment to sports development, particularly football.
Following a 1-0 victory over Angola, secured by Ademola Lookman’s goal assisted by Moses Simon, Gusau praised Tinubu’s motivational words to the team.
Source: Legit.ng
