of Nations following a 2-2 home draw with South Africa on
Wednesday.
Stephen Keshi's men headed into the game needing to at least
match the result of Group A rivals Congo to make sure of their
place in the finals in Equatorial Guinea.
But they were undone by a clinical South Africa side and saw
their spot in the tournament taken away by Congo, who beat
Sudan 1-0 to reach the finals for the first time since 2000.
A double from Bournemouth striker Tokelo Rantie gave South
Africa control of the contest, however, Sone Aluko pulled one
back in the 68th minute to offer hope to the home fans at the
Akwa Ibom Stadium.
The game tilted further in Nigeria's favour when Reneilwe
Letsholonyane was sent off for a second bookable offence and
Aluko scored again in stoppage time to give the hosts hope.
Despite their numerical advantage, Nigeria could not find the
extra goal they required to progress as South Africa held on to
complete an unbeaten qualification campaign.
Nigeria started the better of the two sides and forward Ahmed
Musa twice went close to giving the hosts the lead, hitting the
crossbar before South Africa goalkeeper Darren Keet bravely
denied the CSKA Moscow man one-on-one.
And Musa's profligacy in front of goal was punished by Rantie in
the 43rd minute as he worked his way past defender Kenneth
Omeruo and fired beyond Vincent Enyeama.
Rantie continued to serve as South Africa's most dangerous
attacking threat and just two minutes after the half-time interval
he doubled his tally, leaving Nigeria with a mountain to climb.
Once again Omeruo was at fault as he lost possession to the 24-
year-old, who proceeded to skip past a couple of defenders and
power home.
Aluko responded, though, slotting in on the rebound after
Ikechukwu Uche's curling effort had struck the post before
Letsholonyane was shown a second yellow for a cynical foul on
Juwon Oshaniwa four minutes later.
Keshi's side flung bodies forward in search of a dramatic
turnaround and Aluko levelled matters with a low drive into the
bottom left corner to deny South Africa a first competitive win
over Nigeria.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
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