Senegal and Nigeria sailed to the semi-finals of the Total African cup of nations with lone goal margins Wednesday showing that it was indeed getting tougher as the the true grit and determination begins to show in the teams pursuing Africa’s no. 1 football laurel.
Idrissa Gueye scored in the 69th minute to hand Senegal a much needed 1-0 win over Benin and send the Lions of Teranga to the semi-finals of the Total Africa Cup of Nations Egypt 2019.
This is the first time Senegal are going through to the last four since 2006 when they reached the semis and lost the play off. In the three tournaments that followed, they couldn’t make it past the group stage while they were eliminated in the quarter finals in 2017.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) came into use for the first time in the tournament’s history and was called upon in the 72nd minute, ruling out a Sadio Mane goal, but that counted for less as Senegal held on for the win.
Benin were reduced to 10 men with eight minutes left after Olivier Verdon was sent off following a late tackle on Gueye.
After a tale of missed chances, Senegal finally got their goal, one made from Merseyside. Liverpool’s Sadio Mane teed up Everton’s Gueye before the latter burst into the box and shot past the keeper. After the goal, Mane should have added to his tally of three in the tournament.
Sub Krepin Diata sent him through on goal, but his shot was well saved by the keeper. He had another chance after his goal was ruled out by VAR but again, he could not get a shot past the keeper.
The Teranga Lions controlled much of the game and should have gone to the break with at least a goal on the balance of chances they created in the first half. Mane had the earliest chance in the 19th minute when he chested down beautifully a well weighted ball from Kalidou Coulibaly, but he was sandwiched by the two Benin central defenders and couldn’t pull the trigger with goal in sight.
Benin had two good chances in the 23rd and 25th minutes through Cebio Soukou. His first effort was from range which went just wide.
Two minutes later, he came close when he curled in a freekick from the right but it went agonizingly off target with a number of Benin legs thrown at it missing the crucial touch to guide the ball home.
Senegal bossed the game and had another opportunity to score late in the half though it almost turned out to be a game of ping pong. Niang broke off on the left but his shot was saved by the keeper before follow up efforts from Gueye and Keita Balde were both blocked at the edge of the six yard box.
At the start of the second half, Benin started with frenzy looking to bury the chances early. Sessi D’Almeida had a shot go wide from range before Mickael Pote missed a glorious chance.
The ball flew straight into his boot unmarked from a Soukou cross from the right, but his aim at goal with no one on his shadow went straight to the keeper’s arms.
As the game wore on, goal scorer Gueye was substituted to a standing ovation and in his place came defensive midfielder Salif Sane to see off the single goal lead.
Nigeria
Bafana Bafana lost 2-1 to rivals Nigeria in an absorbing AFCON quarter final match at Cairo International Stadium on Wednesday night to bring their run in the tournament to a disappointing end.
It was another sucker punch that put paid to Bafana Bafana’s progress in the tournament when defender William Ekong scored in the dying minutes of the second half when everyone had resigned to extra time.
It was a painful end of Bafana Bafana’s run and more so after Bongani Zungu had brought parity to the match on the 70th minute with a header which had to be referred to VAR after the referee had initially ruled the goal offside.
Nigeria took the lead in the 27th minute when Samuel Chukwueze bundled the ball home from close range to bring the sparsely crowd to life.
Apart from Nigeria’s goal, there were little clear cut chances from both sides but soon after resumption, the action roared back into life.
Nigeria hit the cross bar from a free kick but South Africa always looked the more likely side to score the equaliser.
And Zungu did just that on the 70th minute.
And with Bafana Bafana pressing forward for the winner, it was Ekong who scored from a corner when the tiring defence failed to clear their lines.
Coach Stuart Baxter retained the same team that eliminated hosts Egypt in the last 16 with goalscorer Thembinkosi Lorch retaining his position ahead of Themba Zwane who was available after completing his suspension.
Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr had suggested South Africa were favourites in the build-up following their defeat of the record seven-time champions, a tag Baxter promptly rejected with Bafana Bafana’s lone competitive win coming in qualifying for these finals.
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