Long before the first ball is kicked in Wednesday’s quarter-final matches at the African Nations Cup, fans of Nigeria and South Africa are already at it.
Off the pitch, the two countries compete for the claim to be the continent’s economic super power, but they now seem to be building up a football rivalry and because this is 2019, the conflict is getting additional fuel from social media.
On Twitter, competing fans are poking fun at each other and the South Africans are not impressed:
One South African fan has taken it upon themselves to remind Nigeria how in the last round the team belittled Egyptian giants, including Premier League joint-top scorer Mohamed Salah: One South Africa TV channel has dubbed the Nigerian team the “Super Egos”, but one Nigerian fan brushes this off and says the Egos will win: Nigerian fans are also having a go at re-christening the other team, renaming Bafana Bafana as “banana banana”, which can easily be eaten:
Nigeria dispatched old foes Cameroon while South Africa knocked-out hosts Egypt, to set up the last eight encounters.
Incidentally, both sides were drawn in the same qualifying group. South Africa shocked Nigeria with a 2-0 away win but they drew 1-1 in Johannesburg.
Nigeria missed the chance of defending their title in 2015 when they were eliminated from the qualifiers in a group that also had South Africa. In qualifying for that competition the teams played out two draws (0-0 and 2-2) and Bafana Bafana topped the group, with Nigeria finishing third. But when it comes to clashes at Afcon finals, it’s the Super Eagles who have the upper hand. They have beaten South Africa twice – in 2000 and 2004. Wednesday’s other quarter final sees Benin take on Senegal. BBC
Pix: Super Eagles
