Africa Cup of Nations delivers with two dramatic semifinal encounters
World No. 20 Senegal will take on No. 45 Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final after the two clubs fought their way past tough semifinal challenges.
Sadio Mané fired Senegal into the finals with a goal and assist in their 3-1 win over Burkina Faso, the Liverpool man going level with Henri Camara as Senegal’s all-time top goalscorer in the process.
Egypt and Cameroon battled for 120 scoreless minutes before a penalty-kick shoot-out was required to settle the contest. Tournament hosts Cameroon missed three successive spot kicks, allowing Egypt to book their place in Sunday’s final showdown.
Here is your round-up of all the semifinal action.
Senegal 3, Burkina Faso 1
The first semifinal began as a tense and feisty affair. Senegal felt hard done by as two penalty chances were reversed following VAR checks before the break, whilst Burkina Faso suffered the loss of goalkeeper Herv Koffi to injury. Ultimately neither side was able to break the deadlock before halftime.
The Lions of Teranga opened the scoring in the second half when PSG’s Abdou Diallo finished from close range to put Senegal 1-0 up in the 70th minute. Diallo’s club teammate Idrissa Gueye doubled Senegal’s lead just 6 minutes later thanks to Sadio Mané’s smart pullback assist in the 6-yard area.
Burkina Faso refused to bow down without a fight. Blati Touré finishing via his knee to drag the underdogs back into the game with 8 minutes to go. With a place in the final on the line however, Senegal’s main man Mané stepped up to seal the victory, running the length of the pitch before casually chipping the ball over the keeper to make it 3-1 with a national record 29th goal.
Senegal progress to their second consecutive Africa Cup of Nations final, where they will be hoping to do better than in 2019 when they lost 1-0 to Algeria.
Egypt 0 (3), Cameroon 0 (1)
Nothing could separate these two sides on paper before the game. These two are the most successful teams in the competition’s history. This translated into a tight and aggressive stalemate on the pitch in the second semifinal.
Hosts Cameroon came closest to scoring from open play, twice hitting the posts thanks to efforts from Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui and Samuel Gouet. Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah was quiet for Egypt, coming close only once with a curling effort that soared narrowly over.
Normal time ended in chaos as Egypt’s head coach Carlos Queiroz was sent off for arguing with the referee, his assistant receiving a caution in the process. Both coaches will be banned from the touchline in the final as a result.
Despite this, it was Egypt who emerged victorious on the day as the cagey affair led to a nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out.
Egyptian keeper Gabaski was hero of the hour, saving two poor penalties to give the Pharaohs the advantage, before Cameroon’s Clinton N’Jie fumbled his shot high and wide to hand the victory, and a coveted place in the final, to Egypt.
Having won their sixth penalty shootout in a row, Egypt now turn their attention to a tantalising clash against Senegal on Sunday to determine the champions of Africa.
Mohammed Salah and Liverpool teammate Sadio Mané square off in the enticing final, with the latter hoping to secure Senegal’s first ever Africa Cup of Nations trophy, whilst Egypt aim to bring a record eighth AFCON trophy home.
Burkina Faso will face Cameroon earlier on Sunday to determine who claims the third-place medals in the tournament.