Despite a second-half injury to Sadio Mane, Senegal secured a 2-0 win to beat a nine-man Cape Verde Islands team in the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). The match took place at the Kouekong Stadium in Bafoussam.
Mane found the back of the net (63’) to open up the scoring, but was soon off the pitch following a head injury during a clash with goalkeeper Vozinha.
Senegal substitute Ahmadou Bamba Dieng (90’+2’) sealed the victory for Senegal as they now move forward to the quarterfinals of the AFCON tournament. Cape Verde finished the match with 9 players on the pitch following send-offs for Patrick Andrade (21’) and Vozinha (57’).
Bamba Dieng has now scored his first ever goal for Team Senegal. In just 20 minutes of action, Dieng finished with: 1 goal, 11 touches, 6 passes, 100% passing accuracy, 1 chance created, 1 big chance created, and 1 tackler.
“All is well,” Mane said in an Instagram post from the hospital. “Thank you all for your messages.”
Mane has now scored seven goals at AFCON finals for Senegal, extending the country all-time record at the competition.
Despite suffering a head injury/collision that would ultimately send him off the pitch, Mane did stay on and score a goal to give Senegal the lead. Vozinha, the opposing goalkeeper who suffered the collision with Mane, visited him in the hospital to extend his best wishes.
“Sometimes we have to be humble and accept that other teams are strong and have players that play on big teams, we should stop assuming that Team Senegal has the best players,” coach Aliou Cisse said last week.
“Cape Verde is a revelation in this competition,” Cisse added ahead of the match.
Cisse’s 4-3-3 tactical expertise continues to yield progress even despite limited goal scoring.
Surprisingly enough, Senegal have only scored three goals at the AFCON, but have still managed to make it to the quarterfinals.
Senegal have now reached the quarterfinals at the Africa Cup of Nations in each of the last three editions — 2017, 2019, and 2022). Only Tunisia are on a better current run in the competition with four straight visits to the quarters.
The draw of African World Cup qualifiers playoffs are as listed:
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