In the AFCON semifinals, South Africa faces against Victor Osimhen’s Nigeria, with Ivory Coast still alive.

In the semi-finals on Wednesday, Nigeria, led by Victor Osimhen, are hoping to maintain their impressive record at the Africa Cup of Nations. Meanwhile, the hosts, Ivory Coast, will face the Democratic Republic of Congo following an incredible journey to the final four. With the African Footballer of the Year winner leading the way and a formidable defensive line under head coach Jose Peseiro, Nigeria seem to be the strongest team still in the competition. Nigeria has won four straight games without giving up a goal since tying Equatorial Guinea 1-1 in their first encounter.

Peseiro declared, “If you don’t concede goals you can win every time,” following the quarterfinal matchup between Angola and Abidjan, where Ademola Lookman’s goal sealed a 1-0 triumph.
In their quest to win the Cup of Nations for a record 15th time and raise the trophy for the first time since 2013 in South Africa, the Nigerians have advanced to the semi-finals.
They will play the South Africans at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake, which is a rematch of the 2019 Super Eagles quarterfinal in Egypt, which the team won 2-1 down to a late goal by current captain William Troost-Ekong.
Following that, Bafana Bafana missed out on qualifying for the 2022 AFCON, but under the guidance of seasoned Belgian coach Hugo Broos, they are back on the major stage.

Although they needed goalkeeper Ronwen Williams’ heroics to defeat Cape Verde on penalties in the round of eight, South Africa has advanced to their first semifinal in 24 years thanks to the man who, against all odds, led Cameroon to the 2017 title.
Prior to that, they defeated Morocco, the best team on the continent, and South Africa equaled Nigeria’s record of four consecutive clean sheets.
“I think Nigeria is a team who are getting better and better with every game,” Broos stated.
“It is a little bit special for both teams because we also have to play each other in a few months in the qualifiers for the World Cup, so it can be a test for both of us.”

Later on Wednesday, at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast will play DR Congo in the second semi-final. The Elephants haven’t played there since suffering a crushing 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea in their previous group match.
It was the Elephants’ second consecutive group stage loss and their biggest home loss ever. It appeared that the hosts would not advance past the first round at that point.
After head coach Jean-Louis Gasset was fired, incredible things happened.
They emerged as the last of the four top-seeded teams due to fortunate outcomes elsewhere, and they eliminated the defending champion Senegal on penalties in the round of 16 after tying late in regulation time.

The Ivorians, led by acting coach Fae, pulled off another amazing comeback on Saturday in the quarterfinal, defeating Mali 2-1 thanks to an extra-time goal from Oumar Diakite.
After Odilon Kossounou was sent off late in the first half, leaving Ivory Coast down 1-0, replacement Simon Adringa leveled the score in the ninetieth minute to force extra time.
We found ourselves at the bottom of a hole following Equatorial Guinea. Midfielder Seko Fofana stated, “We had to wait and hope that we would qualify, which happened, and now we are not afraid of anything.”

Kossounou and Diakite will miss the tournament because they are suspended, but Sebastien Haller needs to be a strong candidate to start for the first time for Ivory Coast.

The striker for Borussia Dortmund has been quite influential off the bench even though he was injured and missed the group stage.

In the quarterfinals, DR Congo overcame a 1-0 deficit to defeat Guinea, and in the semifinals, the team defeated Egypt on penalties.