- As Cape Verde lose on penalties after extra time
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – The goalkeeping heroics of Ronwen Williams were all the Bafana Bafana of South Africa needed on Saturday night to send the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde packing from the ongoing TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
With the hard-fought victory coming through the penalty shootouts which they eventually won 5-3 following a goalless 120 minutes, the South Africans advanced to the semi-finals where the Super Eagles of Nigeria are their next opponents in waiting.
The tense quarter-final encounter had ended 0-0 at the Charles Konan Banny Stadium in Yamoussoukro and Williams showed up remarkably to save four spot-kicks that gave Bafana Bafana safe passage to the last four stage.
Though both sides started brightly in an open first half, stellar defending and top-class goalkeeping from Williams and Cape Verde’s Vozinha kept the game goalless at the break.
The second half followed a similar pattern as the teams traded blows in search of a breakthrough. But a combination of desperation and brilliant defending saw numerous chances go begging.
Cape Verde almost stole it in added time when Gelson Tavares pounced on a deep ball only to smash his shot off the bar with Williams getting a hand to it. The additional 30 minutes brought more chances, with South Africa’s Fagrie Lakay forcing a superb save from Vozinha.
However, both nations were unable to break the deadlock and had to rely on the penalty shootouts to decide who would pick up the semi-final ticket.
Following an impressive four penalty saves by Williams, Bafana Bafana secured a semi-final ticket for the first time since 2000 and they will be facing Nigeria on Wednesday, February 7 at Stade de Bouake.
