PARIS OLYMPICS 2024 QUALIFIER – AMAPIANO REMIX
The Amapiano derby can now be said to be in the pantheon of derbies in football, giving fans alike the thrills and fireworks as the Milan, Manchester, and Merseyside derbies.
This resurging rivalry between Nigeria and South Africa in the field of play is by no means an event any sports lover would dare miss.
It’s been barely three months since the last Amapiano derby in which the Super Eagles of Nigerian played the Bafana-Bafana (the boys) of South Africa in a pulsating, nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat feeling encounter at the just concluded AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, where they defeated Bafana-Bafana in an encounter many say paused time in both countries. Social media, notably Musk’s app was in overdrive as trolling were meted between citizenries.
On Tuesday 9th of April 2024, the Bayana-Bayana of South Africa hosted the Super Falcons of Nigeria in the second leg of the Paris Olympics qualifier to decide who would clinch one of two tickets to represent the continent in the city of love in the summer of this year. Randy Waldrum’s babes went into the game hopeful having secured a slim victory over the girls of South Africa at the MKO Abiola stadium in Abuja last Friday.
Though not a convincing victory, the Ajibade penalty at theFederal Capital seemed to be all that was needed by the Falcons to tip their South African rivals in both legs.
Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie could easily be the Man of the Match displaying a commanding performance across both legs, neutralizing the bombardment of aerial threats by the South Africans in Pretoria, the late reactions by the defenders and the over-reliance on the reflex of Nnadozie may have caused the 67-year-old’s coaching crew a sense of worry.
Though it may not be fully convincing, it may seem as though the male and female national teams of Nigeria may have humbled their South African counterparts, but the boys and girls from South Africa in recent times seem to have lost every ounce of fear of the birds of prey from Nigeria.
Do we get to see the Bafana-Bafana or Bayana-Bayana triumph over their Nigerian counterparts soon?…only the God of football knows.
