Super Eagles CB Ajayi has his say on that great tackle in first half v RSA; drug tested by CAF after superb display 

Tournament favorites Nigeria reached the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations after a hard-fought 4-2 win on penalties against South Africa in Wednesday's semifinal at the Stade de la Paix, Bouaké. 

West Brom central defender Semi Ajayi was one of the standout players for the Super Eagles and the highlight of his performance came in the 26th minute when he made a well-timed challenge to deny the South Africans from opening the scoring. 

The Super Eagles number 6 slid in well to halt a South Africa counterattack, winning the ball cleanly after Yaya Sithole attempted to make a pass to Themba Zwane.

When asked what was going through his mind when he made that tackle, Ajayi said to reporters in the mixed zone: "I saw the opportunity to pick the ball from he attacker and I made the tackle so that was it."

Ajayi revealed that he was not present for manager Jose Peseiro's post-game team talk because he was being drug tested by Confederation of African Football officials shortly after the game. 

"I wasn't there, I was getting tested so I missed everything," he remarked. 

Ajayi was delighted Nigeria saw off a difficult South African team and is targeting his first trophy with the Super Eagles in Sunday's final. 

"Amazing. We came here to win, we are one step away from that now. As much as we need to enjoy today we need to fully focus on Sunday because we've got one last push to bring the Cup home to Nigeria.

"It's like every normal game. We'll find out who our opponent is, we'll study them, we'll put our game plan in place and then everyone will go out there and execute the game plan to the best of their ability.

"South Africa are tough opponents, we have to give them respect, they played really well, they caused us problems but we also caused them problems back and we came out with a win which is all that matters."

Ajayi is the only player in the Nigeria team to have played every single minute at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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