Senegal Celebrates Her First African Cup of Nations Victory
Senegal Celebrates Her First African Cup of Nations Victory
Senegal’s Tortuous Journey to Their First African Cup of Nations Title
The Senegal national football team, also known as the Lions of Teranga, is neither a new name nor a newcomer in the African football arena but has just made a new name for itself in the history of African football.
Did you ask ‘how?’
If yes, find out how as you read along in the following paragraphs.
Let’s attempt to begin from the beginning.
The Very Beginning
Senegal, as a country, gained her independence from France on 4 April 1960, six months before Nigeria got her own independence from Britain on October 1, 1960.
Just that same 1960, the Senegalese Football Federation, FSF, was founded, leading the Lions of Teranga to their first match on December 31, 1961, against Dahomey (now the Republic of Benin), which they lost 2-3.
Senegal went ahead to affiliate with the Confederation of African Football, CAF, and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, FIFA, in 1963 and 1962respectively.
Their African Cup of Nations History
Their first appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, was in 1965, five years after their independence, when they finished second in their group and lost 1–0 to Ivory Coast to finish in fourth place.
“A good first attempt,” you would say.
After a group stage exit at the 1968 AFCON won by the Leopards of Congo-Kinshasa (now Congo DR) in Ethiopia, they would not qualify for the tournament until 1986 in Egypt, where they crashed out gallantly in the group stage after beating Egypt and Mozambique, 1-0 and 2-0 respectively.
They finished fourth, four years later, in the 1990 edition held in Algeria, and hosted the 1992 tournament, when after finishing second in their group, were eliminated 1-0 by Cameroon in the quarterfinals.
They lost the 2002 final 2-3 to Cameroon in a penalty shootout after a goalless draw between them, finished third in their group in Ghana 2008, with just two points, and were eliminated in Gabon 2012, with zero wins and zero points.
Moving further, Senegal was eliminated in the group stage in the 2015 African Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea, reached the quarterfinals in Gabon 2017, and lost 0-1 to Algeria in the final of the 2019 edition held in Egypt.
First-ever African Cup of Nation Title for Senegal
The African Cup of Nations title eluded Senegal for so many years, despite their great efforts.
Mother luck has finally smiled on them, ending their waiting game, while the waiting game continues for Egypt, who are seeking their eighth AFCON title.
What happened to Senegal?
They have finally won their first African Cup of Nations title since their first attempt 56 years ago, including after losing two finals, in 2002 2-3 to Cameroon on penalty kicks, after a goalless draw; and 0-1 to Algeria in Egypt in 2019.
They defeated Egypt at the Olembe Stadium in Cameroon to win the 2021 edition of the competition.
How did it happen?
I’ll give you a brief account of what happened.
Coach of Senegal, Aliou-Cisse
Senegal started the tournament with a 1-0 defeat of Zimbabwe and drew their next two matches 0-0 with Guinea and Malawi to top their group with five (5) points.
They beat Cape Verde 2-0 in the round of 16, and dispatched Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso at the quarterfinals and semi-finals respectively, with the same goal margin of 3-1, setting the final stage between them and Egypt, who eliminated hosts Cameroon in the semi-finals.
The final match between Senegal and Egypt was a dreadful and dramatic one.
The game got off to the worst possible start for Egypt as Senegal was awarded a penalty with just four minutes on the clock.
Senegal won the penalty when Full-back Saliou Ciss was chopped down by Egyptian Mohamed Abdelmonem in the box.
Sadio Mané, the captain of the Senegalese side who plays professional soccer with Liverpool Football Club of England, was left to take the penalty, but he lost it to the Egyptian agile keeper, Mohamed Qotb Abou Gabal Ali, simply known as Gabaski.
Mané’s kick was dramatically saved by Mohamed Abou Gabal, who dived to his right to keep it out.
With that miss or loss by Mané, the Lions of Teranga became jittery and afraid of losing the match, considering the fact that Egypt is the king of penalties and having won their last six shootouts and the fact that the Egyptian goalkeeper, Gabaski, had already saved five penalties in the tournament.
Even though Senegal dominated the majority of the game and had better chances, they were unable to make use of their chances, as Egypt grew into the game late on.
That was further compounded by their frustration with the Pharaohs of Egypt’s spoiling, the feigning of injury, and the long debates after every decision taken by Victor Gomes, the South African referee.
While the Lions of Teranga were hoping to win the match in regulation time, their Egyptian opponents seemed to be praying for it to stretch into extra time, and possibly, into penalty kicks.
At the end of 90 minutes, neither side could break the deadlock in regulation time; there was no victor and no vanquished.
And the game had to go into extra time.
Just about that time, one of the supporters of the Lions of Teranga, Haller Delan, said to an Aljazeera reporter, “We believe God will help us.”
At the end of 30-minute extra time and 120 minutes of play, there was still no winner and no loser.
Both sides were also close to finding a winner at the end of extra time, but they could not be separated, making it inevitable for what ended to be a tense penalty shootout.
Egypt, from their past enviable records in penalty shootouts, seemed the more likely winner at the end of the goalless 120 minutes, but that was not the case.
Mohamed Abdelmonem of Egypt took the first penalty for his side but lost it.
That was immediately cancelled when the Egyptian goalkeeper, Abou Gabal, stopped Senegal Bouna Sarr’s kick from going into the net.
Senegal however, bounced back with an advantage when their keeper, Édouard Mendy, who also keeps for Chelsea Football Club of England, saved Egyptian Mohanad Lasheen’s kick.
The task of taking Senegal’s last kick was left at the doorstep of their skipper, Sadio Mané, even though he had missed one of such kicks at the beginning of the game.
Whenever Senegal was about to take their own penalty kick, Cameroon fans would scream ‘inside the net’, the reason being that Egypt knocked out their darling team, in one of the semis.
At the end of the day, the Lions of Teranga scored four out of their five kicks, while the Pharaohs of Egypt scored only two, which means that Senegal had won the match by 4 goals to Egypt’s 2.
The fourth and last successful kick, which brought the winning goal, was taken by skipper Sadio Mané.
He took a long run-up and, with a great cathartic release, drilled his shot low and extremely hard to his left, turning him from villain to hero, having missed a penalty in the fourth minute of the game.
His kick was impossible for Gabaski to stop or save.
It was a goooooooooooooooooal!
Senegal’s players celebrate with the trophy after beating Egypt to win their first-ever
Africa Cup of Nations Title on February 6, 2022
With that Sadio Mané sealed a historic maiden Africa Cup of Nations title for his country, Senegal.
The tense shootout saw three misses; one for Senegal and two for Egypt.
Soon after his last and winning goal, Mané then embarked on a solo lap of honour, side-skipping delightedly with a Senegalese flag draped over his shoulders.
The Lions of Teranga returned home, afterwards, and took part in a victory parade that took place in their capital, Dakar.
Senegal’s Sadio Mane celebrates with teammates after beating Egypt in the AFCON 2021 final match on Feb. 6, 2022
It was one of the biggest parties in the history of their country, Senegal.
With that victory against Egypt, the Lions of Teranga have made up for their defeat to Algeria in the 2019 edition of the competition, when they lost 0-1 to the Winner, Algeria, in Egypt.
Despite the heartbreak suffered by Egypt for losing the game, they had an outstanding performance, especially with the excellent performance of their keeper, Gabaski, who, despite his age, single-handedly kept his country in the game with his incredible total of eight saves.
As a result of that wonderful performance, his club, Zamalek, is most likely to face the uphill task of keeping him in the summer.
Senegal Celebrates Her First African Cup of Nations Victory. THE END.
By Rockwell Kafomdi.
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