Amajita stun Nigeria to book place in U20 Afcon final

Amajita weathered a first-half storm, bravely regrouped and produced a second-half winner against the direction of play of the semifinal on Thursday to stun Nigeria 1-0 and reach their second Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations final.

Tylon Smith's 66th-minute headed goal at Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia, north-eastern Egypt, earned coach Raymond Mdaka's team the glory of a place in Sunday's final (8pm SA time).

This makes for the best performance by SA in the tournament since the under-20 team coached by Shakes Mashaba that contained stars like Benni McCarthy, Matthew Booth, Junaid Hartley and Stanton Fredericks lost 1-0 to hosts Morocco in the 1997 final.

Amajita were fortunate to not go to the break a goal down after a first half where they at times had to desperately defend, the South Africans battling with Nigeria's physical presence and movement in attack.

The Flying Eagles were let down by their finishing. In the 17th minute, left-back Odinaka Okoro's corner from the right landed on SA goalkeeper Fletcher Lowe's crossbar. On the half-hour, Kparobo Arierhi cantered free down the right and shot into the side-netting.

SuperSport United left-back Neo Rapoo's overlapping was SA's best source of impetus, keeping them from being completely on the back foot.

From his cross, Amajita top scorer and SuperSport teammate Thabang Mahlangu got up to beat goalkeeper Ebenezer Harcourt and bundle a header wide.

The South Africans were far more effective keeping the Eagles at bay from the break. Amajita right-back Sfiso Timba's drive just before the hour was well wide.

Then the South Africans took the lead. Rapoo's corner from the left was cleared back to the defender who played in a seemingly speculative, lobbed cross with his weaker right boot to Smith. Harcourt came and missed by a long way, allowing Smith to loop a header in.

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