Senegal beats Egypt as they win their first Afcon title

Twenty four countries were represented in this year's edition of the African Cup of Nations. Fifty-two games were played in top stadiums in Cameroon between January 9 and February 6. By the end of it all, we can now say our congratulations to the winners of this 33rd edition of AFCON.

Yeah, congratulations to Senegal, the Lions of Teranga, for winning their first African Cup of Nations.

Build up to the game

This game got deserved hype from local and foreign media outlets. We had some big names on the line-up. The likes of Salah and Mane of Liverpool, Mendy of Chelsea, Koulibaly of Napoli, Elneny of Arsenal and other notable players.

Did you notice the presence of Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president?

I bet you did.

The game itself

It was a tough one that saw things getting dragged on for full 90 minutes and further into 30 minutes extra time with no goal to break the deadlock from either Senegal or Egypt. It would have been a different story if Sadio mane capitalized on a couple of chances he had including the penalty kick which came his way 7 minutes into the first half.

Before taking the penalty, we saw some mind games and psychological manipulation from Salah, Mane and Gabasaki. It was a decisive time in the game. Mane stepped up to bear the responsibility, but he couldn't convert the penalty. Not a bad one from him though, Gabasaki who was in goal for Egypt was rather phenomenal.

On the attacking side of Egypt, Salah was rather quiet except in 2 or 3 cases where he was able to get some space to squeeze in a shot. By the end of normal time and the additional 30 minutes, everyone had to settle for the last resort - Penalty Shootout.

Penalty shootout

Man, you need to see the look on the face of everyone on the pitch. The players, coaches, fans...everyone. Nobody wants to come into the final game of a tournament only to ride on luck, but the penalty was a different thing altogether. Yeah, you need to be skilful, precise, decisive, calm and co. You also need to count on luck.

Egypt has been the favourites when it comes to squeezing something out from penalty shootouts in this edition of AFCON. Call it luck or skill, it has been instrumental in their progression since the round of 16, but they ran out of luck today.

Senegalese are celebrating their first-ever AFCON while Egyptians are gutted for losing what would have been their 8th AFCON.

Football!

Post-AFCON fixtures for both sides

It would be interesting to see which of these two would make it to World Cup since they are both paired to play against each other in the world cup qualification game scheduled for March.

Congratulations once more to Sadio Mane and his Senegalese side for winning this one.

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