Ronwen Williams or Nwabali: AFCON 2023 Golden Glove Race Ahead of Nigeria vs Ivory Coast

• Stanley Nwabali will have to keep a clean sheet against Ivory Coast to win the Golden Glove
• This is after Ronwen Williams registered his fifth clean sheet of the tournament on February 10
• The two have been in a class of their own, helping their sides reach the latter stages of the tournament

Ronwen Williams will win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Golden Glove no matter what happens in the final.

Nigeria will face Ivory Coast at the Alassane Ouattara stadium on Sunday evening with the 2023 title in the minds of the players.

However, players like Nigerian custodian Stanley Nwabali will also be eyeing individual awards to cap off what has been a splendid tournament so far.

No one would have imagined that two goalkeepers from the Premier Soccer League would be battling for the goalkeeper for the tournament award when it began on January 13. Many had fronted the reigning CAF goalkeeper of the year, Yassine Bounou and former FIFA Best goalkeeper Edouard Mendy as the go-to goalkeepers of the tournament.

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Ronwen Williams numbers at AFCON 2023

Williams won the Golden Glove by keeping a clean sheet against a wasteful DR Congo in the third-place playoff match on February 10. This meant he was now up to five for the tournament, one more than Nwabali, who has one more game remaining.

The Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper will be the outright winner if his Chppa United counterpart fails to keep a clean sheet against Ivory Coast in the final.

In the seven games he has played, Williams has only conceded thrice, with one coming from the penalty spot in the semi-final. Fbref also shows that he faced 22 shots, saving 20, which is 90.9%. Only Nwabali has a better save percentage in the whole tournament.

The 32-year-old also chipped in with six penalty saves in the shoot-outs to help Bafana Bafana win bronze. His most notable saves came against DR Congo when he saved twice to bring South Africa back into the game before winning it for them, but it is saving heroics that went into AFCON's history books. He became the first goalkeeper to save four penalties in a single game.

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Goalkeepers who saved four penalties in a game

Sports Brief did a deep dive and looked at other goalkeepers who saved four penalties in a single game.

Williams' namesake at Sundowns, Denis Onyango, is also remembered for saving five penalties during the 2023 MTN8 final.

The Ugandan veteran helped the Brazilians win their first MTN* trophy of the modern era.