Defending Champions Senegal have been sent home by host nation Ivory Coast after losing 5-4 on penalties in the late hours of yesterday.
By Olisa Obi
Hosts nation Cote D’Ivoire have taken a dramatic turn to their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign after knocking out defending champions, Senegal late last night.
The Round of 16 tie which ended 1-1 (after extra time) went into penalties with Cote D’Ivoire edging out Senegal 5-4.
Cote D’Ivoire will now progress into the last eight where they will square off with tournament wonder, Cape Verde.
The game did not start as the host nation had hoped within four minutes. They were a goal behind as Habib Diallo scored his second of this AFCON from a Sadio Mane’s cross.
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Showing a huge improvement from their last match, the Ivorians gradually took control but they’re not able to break through a tough Senegal defense who had all players back.
As a tense tie entered the final quarter, our host nation had more possession, but Senegal looked the likelier scorers with Ismaila Sarr having a shot parried and a penalty appeal rejected.
However, Senegal finally cracked on 86 minutes when Mendy fouled Pepe and, after a VAR review, the referee changed and decided to award a spot-kick which Franck Kessie calmly converted.
The game would remain quiet till penalty. The only noteworthy event was when two-time African Player of the Year, Mane, saw his shot on goal smothered by Fofana just before half-time in extra time.
During the penalty shootout, Kessie was the shootout hero, converting the decisive kick after Moussa Niakhate had struck the post with the third Senegalese penalty. He was also the one who gave Ivory Coast the equalizer after Senegal opened the scoring.
Senegal became the seventh consecutive holders to fall victim to a Cup of Nations’ curse. No team since Egypt in 2008 have been able to take a title defence beyond the round of 16.
Jean-Louis Gasset’s Sack
After the group stage, the Ivorian football federation sacked French coach Jean-Louis Gasset.
After the record home loss and, after failing in an attempt to bring back former coach Herve Renard, the Elephants promoted assistant Emerse Fae.
Fae made five changes to the team that lost to Equatorial Guinea, promoting Serge Aurier, Odilon Kossounou, Jean Michael Seri, Max-Alain Gradel, and Jean-Philippe Krasso to the first team.
Despite defeating Guinea 2-0 in their last group game, Senegal changed three of that starting line-up with Moussa Niakhate, Abdou Diallo, and Lamine Camara coming in.
