It was really a show on Monday afternoon at the Kouekong Stadium as Sadio Mane’s late minute’s classic penalty seals the whole three points for the Senegalese national team in their opening match of AFCON 2021.
The runner-up at the 2019 competition had to rely on a late minutes penalty to steal the victory against a dogged Zimbabwe who entered the match with a zeal for victory.
With no international trophy to show for, Aliou Cisse’s Senegal team will be hoping to turn the luck around them at this year’s competition despite failing to grasp the title from the grip of the Algerian national team.
Aliou Cisse started the hunt for a first Senegal trophy as only three of his players who started the final against Algeria featured in today’s clash. With both teams starting the competition on a high spirit, the match was a smash and grab as both teams dueled well.
The Zimbabwean team has 9 shots, with 4 on target, while Senegal has 11 shots, with only 3 going to the goal post, with 61% ball possession.
A point was snatched at the additional time after a Kelvin Madzongwe handball gave Senegal an opportunity to inflict defeat on the Zimbabwe warriors.
The victory for Senegal meant that they had recorded 4 wins out of their last 5 matches in the AFCON competition, and scored 4 goals in the 4 games. Senegal would be hoping to get their players like Mendy and Koulibaly who tested positive for Covid19 before the competition started.
The Senegal team is still the most rated team to take the glory home in Cameroon as against Egypt (the highest titleholder) and the defending champion Algeria.
