Senegal have struggled so far at the Africa Cup, but against Cape Verde they made it into the quarter-finals in relatively comfortable fashion. Liverpool’s Sadio Mané scored the decisive goal in a 2-0 win, but he had to leave the field shortly afterwards in a dazed state.
Senegal, who fielded a number of players from Champions League clubs, faced Cape Verde in the last 16 of the Africa Cup, most of whose players are top flight but play in rather smaller European leagues.
In the first match after the mass panic tragedy before the match between Cameroon and Comoros (2-1), there was a minute’s silence before kick-off in memory of those affected.
Senegal without ideas, despite being outnumbered since minute 21
At the very start of the match, Senegal had their best chance of the first 45 minutes when Mané slammed the ball against the right post from about 13 yards. After that, the Teranga Lions failed to create any real scoring opportunities – despite having been ahead since the 21st minute. In that minute, midfielder Patrick Andrade had to leave the field after hitting Pape Gueye with an open sole above the ankle. Initially, he only received a yellow card, but after watching the video images, the referee gave him a straight red card.
Difficult collision between Mané and goalkeeper Vozinha
A few minutes after the restart, there was a violent clash between Mané and Cape Verde keeper Vozinha. Outside the sixteen, they chased a high ball with their heads and collided. Liverpool’s attacker was bleeding from the back of the head, while the goalkeeper appeared dazed and had to be substituted. The referee, after re-watching the scene, also decided to give a red card – a harsh decision as both were only looking at the ball. Thus Cape Verde had to finish the game with only nine players.
After about six minutes of stoppage time, Mané continued for the time being, his team increased the pressure significantly in the aftermath and created several chances. In the 63rd minute, Mané then scored the now deserved opening goal, in an obviously still dazed state: after a corner from Bayern defender Sarr, he was completely alone and flicked the ball from 15 metres into the top right corner with great technical skill.
Shortly afterwards, however, Mané put his hand over his face and waved it like a windscreen wiper – probably to indicate that he had suffered more pain from the collision. He then left the pitch.
Decision in injury time
Nothing much happened in the aftermath, with Senegal finally deciding the game in stoppage time through Olympique Marseille’s Bamba Dieng, who came on as a substitute for Mané, after a counter-attack.
With the score at 2-0, goals were thus once again few and far between, as they have been throughout the tournament so far, as well as for Senegal themselves. In only seven of the 41 matches so far have more than three goals been scored, Senegal’s goal difference so far after four matches is 2-0.In the quarter-finals (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Senegal will now face Mali or Equatorial Guinea, who will duel on Wednesday at 8 p.m.