South Africa kept alive their dream of winning a first-ever U20 Africa Cup of Nations when they stunned Nigeria to storm the final on Thursday.
Amajita weathered the storm from the West Africans to win the match 1-0 in Cairo with Tylon Smith’s 65th minute header giving Raymond Mdaka’s charges the win which sees them into the final for the first time since 1997.
Nigeria had been the best team in the first half but missed their chances and continued dominating early in the second half but a combination of poor finishing and good defending as well as goalkeeping from South Africa kept them in the game.
That was until captain Neo Rapoo brought in a cross at the back post which was headed home by Smith after the Nigeria goalkeeper came for the ball but failed to get a hand to it.
It was all Nigeria in the first half when Clinton Jephta, playing on the right wing, and striker Kparobo Arierhi tormented the South African defence.
Nigeria on top but nothing to show
The two nearly combined for the first goal after 21 minutes when Jephta brought in a great cross but Arierhi could not connect well with his head with Amajita struggling to cope with the Nigeria press.
Eight minutes later, Arierhi has a good opportunity to break the deadlock against the run of play but fired just wide and it was until the 34th minute when South Africa had their first real opportunity, Rapoo whipping in a cross that Thabang Mahlangu and Kgomotso Modiba got in each other’s way trying to head in.
In the 38th minute, Arierhi saw his shot deflected out for a corner while Tahir Maigana had his attempt go wide.
After the break, Nigeria made some changes with goalkeeper Ebenezer Harcourt taken off for Ajia Yakub with Nigeria still on top.
However, just after the hour mark, Rapoo made a good run on the right side and brought in a good low cross that was kicked out for a corner.
How did Amajita seal final ticket?
From the corner, Rapoo saw his ball headed away by Emmanuel Chukwu but it fell kindly to him and he whipped in a cross that Yakub came out to meet but failed to get a hand to, and Smith headed in for 1-0 in favour of Amajita.
Nigeria upped the ante with Arierhi making a good run into the box before Smith made a good tackle just before he pulled the trigger, while Amajita goalkeeper Fletcher Smythe-Lowe had to pull off two great saves late in the contest to preserve South Africa’s lead.
Victory sees South Africa return to the final for the first time since 1997, when they lost to Morocco, with the North Africans set to be their opponents again if they can beat Egypt in the other semi-final on Thursday night.
If Egypt win, South Africa will face them again, following their meeting at the group stage, when the hosts won 1-0.
