An emotional play-by-play of the AFCON final
Images: giphy.com
After weeks of drama, upsets and all the things we love about the beautiful game, the Africa Cup of Nations culminated in the highly anticipated showdown between Senegal and Egypt. With battle lines drawn, seven-time winners Egypt felt confident that they would deny Senegal their first-ever AFCON trophy. As expected when Africans are involved, the final was dramatic and exciting for fans of both teams and neutrals alike. Our emotions were all over the place, and it went something like this…
Kickoff is here and we are ready for a tense but hopefully exciting game! Let’s goooooo!
Three minutes in and a penalty has been awarded to Senegal!!! What an opportunity.
Mané steps up to take it of course! Quite a bit of pressure but this is what the big stage is all about. And he…MISSES!
This Egyptian keeper though!!! He’s keeping them in this contest!
First half winding down and it must be said that Senegal are dominating, but squandering some good opportunities.
Egypt seems to have rallied in the second half, they’re definitely creating more chances but we are still deadlocked.
Senegal continue to waste chances as we inch closer to extra time (and penalties!)
Well that’s full time and it’s still deadlocked. Could we be going to penalties for the zillionth time this tournament?! Ughhhh! The stress of it all!
Extra time is underway and it's pretty much more of the same…not sure we’re going to get any goals in this period to be honest.
120 minutes played and no-one has scored. Penalties will decide it all! WELP!
So it comes down to Mendy versus Gabaski! Phew…the pressure they must be feeling!
Penalty kicks:
Senegal ⚽ ⚽ ❌ ⚽ ⚽
Egypt ⚽ ❌ ⚽ ❌ MENDY WITH A HERO SAVE!! WHAT A MOMENT!!
So the hopes of an entire nation come down to Mané and this last penalty! After missing one earlier, his mind must be racing. And he…SCORES!!!
Beautiful celebration scenes for first-time winners Senegal and unfortunately heartbreak for Egypt. But this is the kind of dramatic finish we love! What an incredible end to a great tournament.
CONGRATULATIONS SENEGAL! 🇸🇳🧡
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