On Wednesday the winner of the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final encounter between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Bafana Bafana of South Africa would be decided.
To that effect, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), on Tuesday appointed Egyptian, Amin Omar as referee for the semi-final encounter.
This was revealed by the Director of Communications at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ademola Olajire, who stated this in Abuja.
He said Omar’s compatriots; Mahmoud Abouelregal and Ahmed Ibrahim would play the roles of assistant referee 1, and assistant referee 2, while Sudanese Mahmood Ismail will serve as fourth official
Olajire said that Attia Amsaaed from Libya will be the reserve assistant referee, with Yacoub Elmi from Djibouti as commissioner and Aboubacar Doumbouya from Guinea as referee assessor.
“Three-time champions Nigeria and 1996 champions South Africa face off in their second-ever Africa Cup of Nations semi-final clash at the Stade de la Paix.
“Their only previous meeting at the same stage, at the National Stadium in Lagos when Nigeria co-hosted the 2000 finals with Ghana, ended 2-0 in favour of Nigeria.
“Wednesday’s clash is being billed as the more potentially-explosive of the two semi-finals, hosts Cote d’Ivoire will be up against Democratic Republic of Congo, given the pedigree, rivalry and ambition of the two teams,“he said.
South Africa only defeated Nigeria twice in 14 previous meetings at full senior level, though Nigeria edged an African Nations Championship clash by beating the hosts 3-1 in Cape Town in 2014.
