Stanley Nwabali has said that South African players looked scared during their penalty shootout defeat to Nigeria at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON.
The Super Eagles goalkeeper saved penalties from Teboho Mokoena and Evidence Makgopa in the semifinal that ended 1-1 after 120 minutes.
Ronwen Williams, the Bafana Bafana goalkeeper was the talk of the town going into the game, after saving four penalties against Cape Verde to help South Africa reach the last four.
However, Nwabali expressed confidence that Nigeria would prevail if the match went to penalties. The 27-year-old said his coaches’ belief in his penalty-saving abilities.
Speaking with FARPost, Nwabali said; “When we went to penalty shootouts against South Africa, my coaches said Nigeria were going to win because they know me.
“People didn’t know me. Only a few teams in South Africa knew that when you go to penalty shootouts against Stanley, it’s gone. You’re finished; just forget about the game. You must give me the man of the match because I will save a lot.
“A lot of Bafana Bafana guys didn’t know me. But maybe they might have seen in the video analysis or asked questions back in South Africa. If you look at the eyes of the Bafana Bafana players, they looked scared.
“If you watched the game and you look at their eyes when taking a penalty against me, they looked scared. So, when you’re not confident enough to stand, I know you’re going to fumble in the penalty. I was not surprised by Mokoena’s miss, and I was not surprised by Makgopa’s miss.
“So, these teams like Polokwane, Sekhukhune, Stellenbosch, they know that if you go to penalties with me, it’s finished. I’m not praising myself, I always want to keep quiet because I know what I can do.”
