South Africa edges Nigeria to reach U-20 AFCON final
- Andrew Olsson
- May 15
- 2 min read
South Africa U-20 national team star defender Tylon Smith made a crucial contribution on the other end, scoring the only goal as Amajita progressed to the final of the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations with Thursday's 1-0 victory over Nigeria.
After an initial corner kick from South Africa was cleared in the 66th minute, Smith got on the end of a cross from Neo Rapoo to head Amajita into the final. It will be South Africa's first final appearance at the U-20 level since 1997 when they finished as runners-up at the African Youth Championship to a team they may face in Sunday's final, Morocco.
Nigeria perhaps looked like the more dangerous team in a semifinal clash where both teams largely canceled each other out. The Flying Eagles sprayed plenty of shot attempts at the goal of Fletcher Smythe-Lowe but the goalkeeper was not tested too much until Nigeria made their attempt at a comeback after Smith's header, which came as the result of careless goalkeeping by Nigeria substitute custodian Ajia Yakub.
Bidemi Amole's curling shot in the 81st minute was well parried away by Smythe-Lowe before he dove to push away a strong header on target by Israel Ayuma close to stoppage time. The Flying Eagles had a final look in stoppage time when Ayuma's free kick service found Emmanuel Chukwu but the defender somehow nodded wide from less than six yards out.
South Africa now awaits the winner of Thursday's later semifinal between hosts Egypt and North African rivals Morocco, with the final set to take place on Sunday (18:00 GMT) at the Cairo International Stadium. Nigeria will also be in Cairo to face the loser of the semifinal in the third place game on Sunday (15:00 GMT) at the 30 June Stadium.
