African Cup: Sadio Mané Nets Late Penalty To Give Senegal Victory Against Zimbabwe

Senegal is searching for their first African Title

Senegal’s Sadio Mané converted a penalty seven minutes into stoppage time to hand the pre?tournament favourites a 1-0 victory over Zimbabwe at the start of their Africa Cup of Nations campaign in Bafoussam.

Mané sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and scored the penalty in the left corner. The chance came after Zimbabwe’s Kelvin Madzongwe was penalized for a handball in the fourth minute of the injury time.

After Mané’s penalty, Escobar whistled for full time as soon as Zimbabwe kicked off again.

Senegal is Africa’s top-ranked team but had only 18 players available for their opening group match because of coronavirus and injury. The African side played without goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and Captain Kalidou Koulibaly who were ruled out of the match due to Covid-19.

The game was the first of the four matches on the second day of the African Cup. It was played in the western city of Bafoussam, where a tiny crowd showed up to watch one of the title favourites.

Guinea beat Malawi 1-0 in the day’s other Group B game with a first-half goal from Issiaga Sylla.

Meanwhile, in Group C, Morocco’s game against Ghana at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaoundé seemed to be heading for a goalless draw when Sofiane Boufal pounced on a loose ball to score Morocco’s 83rd-minute winner.

In the other game in the group, Gabon beat Comoros 1-0 thanks to a 16th-minute strike from forward Aaron Boupendza.

Senegal lost in the finals of the African Cup in 2019 and is still searching for its first African title.