President Bola Tinubu, Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara and his Lagos and Enugu State counterparts, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Peter Mbah respectively, were among eminent Nigerians that celebrated the Super Eagles for reaching the final of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast following a 4-2 penalty win over South Africa on Wednesday.
\nIn a pulsating encounter at the Stade de la Paix, Bouke, William Troost-Ekong put Nigeria in the lead from the penalty spot midway through the second half after rampaging striker Victor Osimhen was brought down inside the box, before South Africa earned a spot-kick of their own in the final minute of the 90th minute after Egyptian referee, Amin Omar, disallowed Osimhen\u2019s goal following a VAR review, and instead awarded a penalty to South Africa after replays showed midfielder Alhassan Yusuf had fouled Percy Tau.
\nTeboho Mokoena converted from the spot in the 90th minute to send the game into a goalless period of extra time where Bafana Bafana defender Grant Kekana was sent off late one.
\nHaving lost five of their previous six semi-finals at the continental finals, the Eagles survived some nervous moments to book a place in Sunday\u2019s final with a 4-2 win after Stanley Nwabali saved two penalties.
\nReacting to the Eagles\u2019 victory, Tinubu, on his official X handle, congratulated the team while encouraging them to win the final.
\n\u201cFrom the Southernmost cape of Africa to the Plains of Mauritania and the coast of West Africa\u2026 You have made us all proud to be Nigerians! Go\u2026 Soar in the AFCON final. Well done, boys!\u201d he tweeted.
\nAlso, the Labour Party presidential candidate at the last election, Peter Obi, also took to his handle to hail the team following their impressive outing.
\n\u201cToday (Wednesday) was yet another victorious outing for Nigeria as our National team, the Super Eagles displayed great fighting spirit, beating the Bafana Bafana of South Africa to take Nigeria to the finals in the ongoing AFCON games,\u201d Obi wrote.
\nAlso reacting to the win, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said, \u201cWe did it!!!!
\n\u201cSo proud of our Super Eagles for finding that extra tenacity to push through. From Nwabali with the in-match and penalty heroics to Ekong to Osimhen for taking the initiative to help us score in the match and to the silent hero, coach Jos\u00e9 Peseiro, everyone dug deep to give us this one.
\n\u201cOff to the finals and by God\u2019s grace the Cup. For now, we\u2019re playing @asakemusik\u2019s Amapiano for the rest of the week.\u201d
\nIn the same vein, Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara, hailed the Super Eagles victory.
\nIn a terse message he personally signed, Fubara said, \u201cStanley Nwabali\u2019s dexterity and determination in the ongoing AFCON tournament embody the spirit of every Rivers youth. His remarkable saves inspire us all.
\n\u201cCongratulations to Nwabali and the entire Super Eagles team on the victories so far. We believe in your abilities and wish you triumph in the finals.
\n\u201cKeep shining, knowing you carry the hopes of a proud nation and embody the resilience and aspirations of our youths. We stand with you as you bring dignity to make us proud.\u201d
\nDr. Peter Mbah, Enugu State Governor, equally took to social media to praise the team.
\n\u201cHearty congratulations Super Eagles on your qualification for the final of AFCON 2023,\u201d he wrote.
\n\u201cThat was a breathtaking encounter, but you were undoubtedly super in mentality and display.
\n\u201cThank you for making us super proud and best wishes in the final of the competition. Our prayers are with you.
\n\u201cCongratulations, Nigeria.\u201d
\nMinister for Sports, Senator John Enoh, added, \u201cMy dear Super Eagles, today you have given every Nigerian Compatriot a reason to rejoice. We all doff our hats to you. You have shown us all that the Nigerian spirit is a winning spirit. You are conquering the continent one match at a time. Bravo, heroes of our time!
\n\u201cYou have set your goals high and you have not stopped. Keep soaring and bring home the Africa Cup of Nations. Unto the Finals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Bola Tinubu, Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara and his Lagos and Enugu State counterparts, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Peter Mbah respectively, were among eminent Nigerians that celebrated the Super Eagles for reaching the final of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast following a 4-2 penalty win over South Africa on Wednesday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":282791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-327752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=327752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327760,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327752\/revisions\/327760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/282791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=327752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=327752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=327752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}