South Africa and Nigeria will square up at the Cairo International Stadium for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2019 quarter-final match on Wednesday night.
South Africa will go into the quarter-final clash knowing a victory will secure them a spot in the last four.
Bafana Bafana reached the last eight following a shock 1-0 win over hosts Egypt, while the Super Eagles produced an incredible comeback to send Cameroon home.
Who will reign supreme?
This encounter at the Cairo Stadium will be the third meeting between these two sides at AFCON, with Nigeria boasting a 100 per cent win record.
Worse still, the one-time African champions in 1996, South Africa have failed to score even a single goal against Nigeria in all the matches they have played.
Super Eagles head coach, Gernot Rohr stated in a pre-match press conference that Bafana Bafana are now favourites for the AFCON 2019 title, but his team will fight for victory at the Cairo International Stadium.
“When you beat the favourites, you are the favourites yourself. We also had a good game against Cameroon and I expect a good match,” Rohr said.
Head-to-head
These two teams have 13 competitive meetings between them. Nigeria have won six of those 13 fixtures while Bafana Bafana have won twice with five draws between the two sides.
Both sides met during AFCON qualifiers with South Africa beating Nigeria 2-0 in Uyo in 2017 and then in November 2018, they drew 1-1 in a return leg match in Johannesburg.
Nigeria’s injury boost
Nigeria’s captain, John Obi Mikel is back for Rohr’s side after recovering from a knee injury he suffered during Nigeria’s 2-0 defeat to Madagascar.
The 2013 AFCON winner took part in light training on Sunday morning and has since steeped up for full training sessions.
Mikel missed the Round of 16 tie against Cameroon.
