The Bafana Bafana of South Africa were able to overcome the wrath of the Blue sharks of Cape verde Island. After a gruelling 120 minutes of football in which the Cape verde players gave a good account of themselves but were unable to get the ball into the net, even the Bafana Bafana missed some glaring chances.

They then went into penalty shoot outs, Mr Williams in goal for South Africa became the hero, saving four pks that ensured his team won the tie by 2-1, Blue Sharks scored one of their pks, while Bafana bafana scored two of their four pks. After Williams saved the fifth penalty, there was no point for the South Africans to take their last pk.

In the earlier match of the day, the host nation once again showed their resilience when they battled nearby neighbors the Eagles of Mali. The Eagles of Mali have themselves to blame for not winning this tie, they missed a first half pk, meanwhile Cote voire trusted libero was sent off for an early shower after an unprofessional tackle on a Malian player.

It was the Eagles that however drew the first blood, when boyish looking Nene released a thunderous shot that caught the goalie of Cote voire napping as the ball nestled in the net, surprisingly Nene didn’t celebrate the goal as we were informed that he was born in Cote voire. Thereafter the match became a cagey affair as both teams relied on counter attacks to unleash their fury.

However, in the closing stage of the match, Simon Adingra who plays for Brighton hove Albion in England pounced on a loose ball and latched onto it into the net for the equalizer, the match proceeded to extra time, Oumar Dikiate back heeled the ball into the net after a long goal mouth scramble and the the stadium went wild and in the heat of the celebration Dikiate forgot that he was already on a yellow card, he took off his jersey and got sent off by the Egyptian centre referee.

So in the first semi final coming up on Wednesday, it will be Super Eagles squaring up against the Bafana bafana, while DR Congo will try Cote voire for size in the second semi final.

The finals comes up on the 11th of this month.

Lucky Odili for the Hood newspapers.