The defending champions Senegal secured their place in the semi-finals of the 5th edition of the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations Mozambique 2022, after beating Egypt 6-4 on Sunday in Vilankulo.
With this triumph, the Lions of Senegal have six (6) points, following Uganda in second with three (3) points and Egypt (1) and Madagascar (0) in third and fourth respectively.
The Senegalese can go all the way if they beat their Ugandan counterparts tomorrow on the third and final day of the group stage. Egypt and Uganda are also hoping to seal their passage to the next round.
A fierce clash between the two giants of African football had already been predicted. Champions Senegal showed little inspiration against a struggling Egypt, who were coming off a hard-fought victory over Madagascar on the opening day, giving them just a point. Nevertheless, Senegal’s Lions of Teranga took an early lead through goalkeeper and captain Al Seyni Ndiaye, who put his opposite number down in the first minute.
In response, the Egyptians eventually got the equaliser through Mohamed Hassan (1-1), which brought some calm to the Egyptian hosts. It was an intense moment in which both teams played the match to the limit of errors. An intense battle was also waged outside the box, that is, between the technical benches of both teams. However, fair play prevailed.
Plastic Egypt forward Hossam scored the second goal for his team, while Seydina Diagne equalised (2-2) for Senegal. Betting on the attack with long distance shots, Moustafa Zeidan Lofty’s team believed in themselves, naturally reaching the third goal by Haitham Mahsoub (2′ of the second period), who, minutes later, would score the fourth goal.
Ninou Diatta fired an unstoppable rocket past the Egyptian goalkeeper. The score was 4-4. From then on, Mamadou Diallo’s side never looked back. They lived up to their title of champions, scoring the fifth and sixth goals through Mamour Digne and Seydina Sene in the third and final period.
What they said
Moustafa Zeidan Lofty, Egypt coach
“My team made many mistakes that cost us dearly. Inadmissible mistakes that penalised us. We must also recognise that we played in front of a difficult and strong opponent. We will recover the players and try to win tomorrow’s game against Uganda to continue to the semi-finals.
Mamadou Diallo, Senegal coach
“Today we had a game where situations happened that were out of our control and that I would not like to comment on. The most important thing is that my team managed to prove on the pitch that they were the best and won the game. We want to win in the semi-finals and revalidate the title”
Source: Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF)