The suspense of the Afcon final was revealed in the early hours of Thursday morning! Hosts Côte d'Ivoire narrowly defeated the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) 1-0, while Nigeria's clash with South Africa was full of drama. These two strong teams had met 1-0 in the group stage and this clash saw Nigeria once again take a 1-0 lead.
Nigeria and South Africa were in a heated battle with neither side having anything to show for it at the end of the half. In the 67th minute, Nigeria's Widow Osungham was awarded a penalty kick and Dostyigaon gave Nigeria the lead with a one-two. However, a dramatic turn of events occurred towards the end of the match. A South African player was kicked down for a foul during an attack, but the referee made no call. Nigeria then launched a counter-attack, with Widow Osungham adding another goal, and victory seemed to be in sight. However, the VAR system intervened to change the situation and ruled that Nigeria had committed a foul, canceling out Vitor Ossenhan's goal and awarding South Africa a penalty kick. In the end, Mogona scored a brace to make it 1-1.
