South Africa beat Cape Verde to complete the last four

Published on: 02/03/2024 – 23:53Modified: 04/02/2024 – 00:43

5 minutes

At the end of the suspense, Bafna Bafna wins the last ticket to the CAN 2024 semi-finals! Cape Verde take on South Africa in the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations on Saturday 3 February at the Charles Conan Bunny Stadium in Yamoussoukro. And it was South Africa who won after an incredible penalty shootout, where their goalkeeper Ronwen Williams achieved the impossible (0-0, tab 2-1).

The stands at the Charles Conan Bunny Stadium in Yamoussoukro are sparse when the match between the two teams kicks off. A far cry from the incandescent atmosphere of the Mali – Ivory Coast meeting that ended not long ago with the elephants’ spectacular qualification. Despite this calm atmosphere, the 22 players intend to play their part well to reach the semi-finals, and it is Cape Verde who step on the ball in the first minutes.

The Blue Sharks have one of the best attacks of CAN 2024, but it’s Mokoena who strikes first: the South African, author of a sublime free kick against Morocco in the Round of 16, sends a floating strike that has his secret. Wozinha watches and catches the ball (10th).

A little later, the same Bafana serves to Zwain of Bafana, but his chipped shot misses the target (14th). Shepherd to Shepherd response: Pina in return strikes from the entrance to the South African territory… but gets crushed there too (15th). The rest of the match consisted of sterile balls from both sides without any chances.

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Until Mokoena gets a good free kick at the entrance to the Cape Verdean area: the South African midfielder takes justice into his own hands but the Blue Sharks wall pushes the ball away (29th). Cape Verde slowly regains control of the ball and offers great combinations like this action on the right: in a magnificent three-way play, Ryan Mendes inherits the ball and crosses for Cabral, who volleys back. But Kekana threw himself to save his team against the goal (35th).

After that, Mendes Bafana sends another thrill into the Bafana area, but his shot close to the opponent’s cage is deflected by a South African defender (40th). With nothing else to report at the end of the first period, 0-0 seemed the most reasonable of what was on offer.

Goalkeepers in the spotlight

After returning from the locker room, the match continues in continuity with the end of the first act. So, until the move from Mokoena to Makgopa, whose ground strike is captured in two stages by Wozinha (53m), there are few situations to report. In the process, Rodrigues is found deep on the edge of offside. He hits one-on-one against Williams but the South African goalkeeper is well down (56th).

Promising actions, but the show quickly falters. At the hour mark, there were only three shots on target in total. It wasn’t until the 78th minute that some spice returned to the match: Cabral volleyed in Mendes’ cross, but the ball went past Williams’ cage.

An off-target header from Blue Shark Semedo (88th) and a crushed shot from South Africa’s Sithole (90th) would not change the look of the match. Benchimol has Cape Verde’s qualifying ball at his feet during stoppage time: alone against Williams, he takes a powerful shot but the South African goalkeeper makes a crucial save by deflecting the ball onto his crossbar (+3 in 90). So the two teams will continue to overtime to decide between themselves.

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Williams as the hero

This meeting is increasingly becoming a goalkeeper’s match: after Williams, it’s Wozinha’s turn to shine during a close-range double save against Mayembela and then against Makgopa (92nd). Bafna Bafna had two big chances in quick succession to open the scoring.

The Blue Sharks haven’t had their last word: Benchimol finds himself alone on the right but his shot goes wide (95th), and minutes later again in the South African area (99th) Both teams look tired in the second half of overtime, and in this proposed game is reflected.

Then it’s time for a fine steaming of blue sharks and buffa. Williams shines at his best, stopping four shots from Cape Verde! Never seen! In the end, after a miss from Lepasa and a save from Vozinha for Cape Verde, South Africa won the penalty shootout with a surprising 2-1 scoreline.

It is the first time since 2000 that South Africa have qualified for the last four of CAN, where they will face Nigeria on Wednesday.

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