Pape Alassane Gueye’s extra time goal was enough to earn Senegal their second Africa Cup of Nations title after defeating Morocco 1-0 in the final on Sunday in Rabat.
Senegal almost took the lead in the 5th minute after Pape Alassane Gueye’s header was saved by Yassine Bounou for a corner kick. The early part of the game was well controlled by the Senegalese.
In the eighth minute, the Moroccans also had their opportunity to take the lead, but the ball was deflected by a Senegalese defender.
Ismael Saibari’s left-footed shot outside Senegal’s 18-yard box failed to threaten goalkeeper Edouard Mendy in the 14th minute.
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Sabibari was also played through by Ayoub El Kaabi, but his attempt to chip the goalkeeper went way wide of the goalpost. He was later flagged offside by the assistant referee.
Ndiaye could have broken the deadlock in the 37th minute, but Bonnu was on hand to use his right leg to save the ball from going into the back of the net. A big relief for the Moroccan fans.
A well-tailored cross by Abdessamad Ezzalzouli into the Senegalese box in the 40th minute was not properly connected to Nayef Aguerd with his head.
Both teams started the second half on a high tempo but failed to create cutting-edge opportunities.
El Kaabi had the best goal-scoring opportunity to break the deadlock for Morocco in the 57th minute but his effort failed to beat Mendy.
A few minutes later, El Kaabi was again played through by Brahim Diaz, only for his shot to be blocked by the Senegalese defenders, with the rebound played way wide of the goalpost by Bilal El Khannous.
In the 85th minute, Pape Alassane Gueye’s low drive shot whistled past Morocco’s defense. Ibrahim Mbaye, who just came into the field in the 80th minute, almost gave Senegal the winning goal, but his effort was denied by Yassine Bounou.
Senegal thought they had won the game when Abdoulaye Seck’s header beat Bonno in the 92nd minute. But their celebration was cut short by the center referee after Seck pushed Hakimi prior to the goal.
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Diaz missed the magic moment to win the game for Morocco after the host was awarded the penalty in the 97th minute, but the Real Madrid panenka was calmly saved by Mendy.
Pape Gueye finally broke the deadlock in the 94th minute of extra time with a sublime shot that beat the Morocco goalkeeper.
However, Diaz almost redeemed his image in the 96th minute, but his shot was calmly saved by Mendy.
Youssef En-Nesyri’ close header in 103 minute almost leveled parity for Morocco.
Ndiaye had the chance to kill off the game after his first effort was parried away, only for the rebound to be flicked away by Yassine Bounou’s hand.
MATCH STATISTICS
Senegal 1-0 Morocco
GOAL SCORERS: SENEGAL
Pape Alassane Gueye
(94 min)
GOAL SCORER: MOROCCO
Nill
LINE-UP: SENEGAL
Mamadou Sarr
Idrissa Gueye
Lamine Camara
Sadio Mané
Nicolas Jackson
Iliman Ndiaye
Edouard Mendy
Moussa Niakhaté
El Hadji Malick Diouf
Pape Alassane Gueye
SUBSTITUTES
Ibrahim Mbaye
(Antoine Mendy, 77 min)
Ismaila Sarr
(Iliman Ndiaye, 77 min)
Abdoulaye Seck
(Lamine Camara, 77)
Cherif Ndiaye
(Nicolas Jackson 93)
HEAD COACH: Pape Thiaw
LINE-UP: MOROCCO
Yassine Bounou
Achraf Hakimi
Noussair Mazraoui
Nayef Aguerd
Brahim Díaz
Ismael Saibari
Abdessamad Ezzalzouli
Ayoub El Kaabi
Bilal El Khannous
Neil El Aynaoui
Adam Masina
SUBSTITUTES
Youssef En-Nesyri
(Ayoub El Kaabi , 80 min)
Bilal El Khannous
(Oussama Targhaline 80 min)
Anass Salah-Eddine
(Ismael Saibari 94 min)
Jawad El Yamiq
(Adam Masina 89 min)
Igmane Hamza
(Brahim Díaz 98 min)
HEAD COACH: Walid Regragui
By James Agberebi in Fes, Morocco
10 Comments
Very good! All Morocco and CAF wuruwuru to ‘host and win’ and buy the trophy fails and Senegal are worthy winners. Senegal has done to their men, what our Women (Super Falcon) did to their women in a failed bid to host and win WAFCON July last year.
Hope you all saw the real definition of a leader, you dnt have to wear the arm band to be a leader, mane is the real definition of a leader.
Osimhen screaming @ lookman reduced lookman impact hence the reason he has zero goal and assist immediately after that incident.
Senegal deserve to championships. Morrocco got to finals fraudulently throught partial officiating that favours them. They wanted to do it in the final but Senegal resisted by opting not to play again. They a very strong mentality which i will like SE to emulate going forward. Skills and tactics win small games but mentality win big games. Against morrocco mentality was weak. We play like a team that didnt believe in itself ability. Another thing i like Nigeria to learn from Senegal is to hv a team where anyone can be replaced without the team being affected. Koloubaly did not play but it didnt show.. There are so many weeds in SE team. Nididi got suspended and there was no replacement.. what did we take Akinsamiro, Onyedika and the guy in zultweregam to go to Afcon and do. Waste tax payers money.? Im writing this in tears cos the rubbish is getting out of hand. Players like Anuachu, Chukweze , et al who hv nothing to offer SE must go abeg. Lets lesrn from senegal
Hahahahaaa……I thought we didn’t win Morocco because of our “talisman”, our passmaster, playmaker and assist king Ndidi did not play…….LMAOooo. Now we didnt win because of weak mentality…..LMAOoo
How about we didn’t win because our coach was tactically caged within just 15 minutes of the game
You self you talk on both sides of your mouth most times…sebi you say osimhen wearing the captain armsband is an extra motivation? Bro this your two faced abi na two mouth comment on csn all the time don tire me….
Congratulations to Senegal. What the Super Eagles failed to achieve, Senegal showed their class and humbled the Moroccans.
Our players are not ready to win anything. The current Super Eagles players are not psychologically strong enough to achieve what Senegal was able to achieve in today’s match.
Eric Chelle also made some mistakes, and I hope he acknowledges them as well.
Our players should throw away their egos and be more focused and respectful.
When people show love to them, a few of them respond, and others ignore, and when it matters, they humble themselves.
The Moroccan team is not special if our boys believe, and the coach used the strategy that works.
I’m in support of Chelle continuing.
NFF, as usual, I hope you have not learned one or two things so far?
One thing is, I am deeply happy that Morocco did not win the tournament with their cheating.
One lesson I learned in this tournament is that cheating your way to the top can’t make you achieve your goal, but the fear of God does. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
Let us now see if the Moroccans will commit suicide, now that their HOST AND WIN BY FIRE BY FORCE bid has failed.
What an enthralling match! Both teams fought hard.
Hakimi was whipping in cross after cross. El Khanouss battled hard in the midfield, but the two Gueyes and Camara were up to the task. Both defences held strong, repelling attack after attack.
Illiman Ndiaye had a great chance to score, but was denied by the long legs of Bonou. Morocco also came close, with El Kaabi missing a sitter in the 6 yard box. But the miss of the evening was Brahim diaz’s failed Panenka penalty. If it had worked, he would have looked really brave. But it failed woefully, and it makes him look really stupid!
Pape Gueye’s left foot is something special. he has been getting vital goals with it in previous games, but none bigger or more important than his goal today. What a beauty! He smashed that past a hapless Bonou, into the top corner. That’s indeed a rare sight. Can’t remember the last time I saw Bonou beaten by a strike from distance.
Led by Mane, who was a thorn in the flesh of the Moroccans, Senegal have done it. To be a champion, you need to be good, but you also need to be fortunate. And Senegal were fortunate. The Moroccan close calls, near misses, and ultimately Diaz’s moment of utter madness, choosing to play that Panenka, all contributed to their success. But it must be said that the success is well deserved.
This is true. Pompei the pen pusher. All power to the people.
‘To be a champion, you need to be good, but you also need to be fortunate.’
@Pompei
Aptly stated.
As they say fortune favours the brave. And success is luck meeting hardwork.
Senegal deserved it. Congratulations to them.
For me, the Super Eagles did wonderfully well. They performed above expectations and still unbeaten within fulltime and extra time. That’s some positives. Hopefully, we sustain the tempo, approach and determination going forward. ıt’s just unfortunate we aren’t going to the world cup. What a waste of momentum!
This is also true.