The anticipation preceding yesterday's game was certainly palpable. South Africans hoped that their national team, Bafana Bafana, who (surprisingly) defeated Egypt 1-0 in the 16th round of the tournament, would pull out another win from their bag of (many) surprises against Nigeria's Super Eagles.

In fact, South Africans even started the hashtag #IfBafanaBeatsNigeriaIWill where they talked about the range of hilarious things they'd do if their boys defeated Nigeria. However, it was not meant to be and last night saw South Africa, which has never defeated Nigeria at the AFCON, exit the tournament and Nigeria advance to the semi-finals.

Nigeria is on its way to a possible fourth AFCON title after their 2-1 victory over South Africa. Their success in yesterday's game can be attributed in part to Samuel Chukwueze, the 20-year-old Villarreal midfielder who scored the first goal in the 27th minute of the match, putting Nigeria in the lead. As a result, Chukwueze became the youngest scorer in this edition of the AFCON tournament.

The young footballer expressed how elated he was at being crowned the Man of the Match and added that, "This is my first international outing with the Super Eagles as well as my first senior goal. It is a dream come true for me. This makes me feel so happy and don't know how to express it."

Nigeria, along with Senegal, have now advanced to the semi-finals.