The Teranga Lions of Senegal have won their first ever Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory over Egypt in Sunday’s final in Cameroon.
After a 0-0 score line at the end of 120minutes of action the lottery of penalties was left to be the decider between the sides and Senegal broke Egyptian hearts with the win.
Senegal star man Sadio Mane became the hero of the day as he scored the deciding kick albeit missing one on the seventh minute in regulation time. He turned up well this time and buried his kick perfectly to send Senegalese into jubilation.
It was a tense final with chances few and far between as the two teams gave a good account of themselves and what they have in store for football fans.
Senegal were third time lucky after loosing their two previous finals in 2002 and in the last edition in 2019. It also means head coach Aliou Cisse becomes lucky this time as he is involved in all three of those finals. He was captain when Senegal lost the first final in Mali 2002 and he was coach in the 2019 edition when they again lost to Algeria.
Senegal is seen as one of Africa’s power houses in football but they hadn’t won the continent’s top football prize.
Sunday’s victory for Senegal means there has been seven different winners of the competition from 2010 till date and Egypt the last winner in 2010 loosing two finals on the trot.
Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was adjudged the best goalkeeper of the tournament, Sadio Mane picking up the player of the tournament while Vincent Abubakar won the golden boot for his 8goals in the competition.
The two teams will each turn their attention to the impending Qatar 2022 World Cup playoff as they square off again in March to determine who gets the sole slot to be at the mundial in Qatar as one of Africa’s five representatives.
