Yaoundé (dpa) – After a dramatic penalty shootout, Senegal won the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time. Liverpool star Sadio Mané’s team beat record winners Egypt 4-2 after 120 goalless minutes in the final in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé.
The Egyptians, seven times in the tournament’s history and without suspended coach Carlos Queiroz, had to settle for second place – as Mané scored the decisive goal.
Mané had already missed the best chance in the seventh minute of the game. The Liverpool striker shot too weakly, allowing Egypt keeper Mohamed Abou Gabal to parry. At Egypt, Mané’s club-mate Mohamed Salah had the best opportunity just before half-time, but the star player narrowly missed.
The Senegalese with Bouna Sarr from FC Bayern Munich were also the better team in the second half, but rarely created good chances. In addition, keeper Gabal kept safe when balls came to his goal. Egypt, who had already played three extra-time games by the end of the tournament, played cautiously and waited for counterattacks. Like Stuttgart’s Omar Marmoush, Salah rarely took on dangerous actions.
After the goalless 90 minutes, Egypt had to go into the extra 30 minutes and saved themselves with a fighting performance on penalties. After Egypt’s Mohamed Abdelmonem shot at the post, keeper Gabal saved another penalty against Sarr. The preliminary decision, however, was that Senegal goalie Edouard Mendy made a save against Mohanad Lasheen. Then Mané, who had previously failed from eleven meters, ran up and scored to make it 4:2.
Cameroon came third in the tournament. The hosts were already 3-0 down against Burkina Faso on Saturday night, but still managed to draw 3-3 after regulation time and prevailed 5-3 on penalties.