The Teranga Lions of Senegal on Wednesday cruises into the finals of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) after beating the Pharaohs of Egypt with a lone goal victory stopping a dream of Egypt lifting the trophy a record eight times
Sadio Mane scored a 78th-minute winner to give Senegal a 1-0 victory over Egypt on Wednesday in their Africa Cup of Nations semi-final in Tangiers.
Former champions Senegal dominated possession against cautious Egypt and will face hosts Morocco or Nigeria on Sunday in the final.
The result maintained the dominance of Senegal over Egypt. The Teranga Lions beat the Pharaohs in the 2022 AFCON final and in a 2022 World Cup play-off. Both victories came after penalty shoot-outs.
Egypt captain Mohamed Salah was well contained by the Senegal defence. This was his fifth AFCON and the closest he has come to a winners’ medal is finishing a runner-up twice.
Veteran Senegal centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly was yellow-carded after 17 minutes for fouling Egypt striker Omar Marmoush.
It was his second booking in as many matches and ruled him out of the final. The second semi-final will be played later on Wednesday.
Worse was to follow for the 34-year-old based in Saudi Arabia as he sustained an injury six minutes later and had to be replaced by Mamadou Sarr.
Senegal did more attacking in a cagey first half without seriously threatening 37-year-old Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy.
An attempt by Nicolas Jackson flew over and, soon after, teammate Pape Gueye was on target with a low angled shot, but it lacked power and was comfortably saved.
The rival benches became involved in heated verbal exchanges and some pushing as half-time approached, leading rival head coaches Pape Thiaw and Hossam Hassan to appeal for calm.
Thiaw and Hassan were then addressed by the referee and order was restored in the rival dugouts.
Egypt threatened the Senegal defence for the first time in added time at the end of the opening half when awarded a free-kick close to the touchline.
But the set-piece delivery from Salah slipped through a crowded goalmouth and out of play beyond the far post.
Both teams made changes for the second half. Egypt replaced Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh with Mahmoud ‘Trezeguet’ Hassan and Senegal introduced Lamine Camara for Habib Diallo, who had been cautioned.
As the semi-final passed the hour mark, the pattern of the opening half continued. Egypt were content to let Senegal have more possession, confident they would snuff out any threat to El Shenawy.
With 15 minutes of regular time remaining, Egypt had not had a goal attempt on target nor had they forced a corner.
Finally, with 12 minutes remaining, the Senegalese pressure was rewarded with two-time African player of the Year Mane scoring.
Second semifinal is Morocco versus Nigeria at Abdellah- Rabat in Morocco at 9pm tonight.
The 3rd place match between Egypt and the loser of the Nigeria vs Morocco match is scheduled for Saturday 17th January at 5,00pm in Casablanca and the grand finale between Senegal and the winner of the Nigeria vs Morocco duel will be on Sunday 18th January at 8.00pm in Rabat
