Senegal – Morocco 1:0 (0:0)
Four years after their first win in 2022, the Senegalese national football team will face hosts in the final Morocco Won the Africa Cup for the second time 1-0 (0-0, 0-0) after extra time. Pape Gueye scored the decisive goal in the 94th minute with a shot from around 16 meters. “We gave everything, we didn’t cheat. Senegal are African champions and we are overjoyed,” said Gueye after the game.
His goal was preceded by an almost 20-minute discussion that almost led to the game being abandoned. The reason for this was a duel between Morocco’s Brahim Díaz and Senegals El Hadji Malick Diouf. Díaz called for a penalty as a result of a slight hold in the penalty area. Referee Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo awarded the point after a VAR decision.
In protest against what they saw as the wrong decision, Senegal’s players left the pitch at the request of coach Pape Thiaw, but returned to the pitch after a short time. Meanwhile, there was chaos in the stands. Senegal’s fans wanted to storm the pitch, but security forces prevented this. When Díaz was able to take the penalty, he missed it – goalkeeper Édouard Mendy stopped and parried the ball. “We were all very, very speechless, stunned,” said former Bundesliga professional Michél Dinzey as a TV expert Sportdigital. Díaz, who was substituted in extra time, disappointed an entire country.
That wasn’t the only controversial decision of the evening: towards the end of the second half, the referee whistled for an alleged foul by Abdoulaye Seck. Shortly afterwards, Senegal’s Moussa Niakhaté (90+2) headed into the goal. The hit didn’t count; according to the rules, the video assistant was not allowed to check the situation. Morocco’s goalkeeper Bono ultimately prevented the score from making it 2-0. The game was balanced until injury time.
Morocco last reached the final in 2004. At that time the team lost against Tunisia. The team won the Africa Cup once, 50 years ago.
