Cairo, Sunday @PeopleSports11
Senegal reached the Africa Cup of Nations final for the second time with a Dylan Bronn own goal giving them a 1-0 win over Tunisia on Sunday in a tense last-four duel in Cairo.
With 11 minutes gone in extra time, goalkeeper Mouez Hassen pushed a free kick against the head of Bronn and the ball went backwards into the net.
Tunisia thought they would have a chance to equalise when Idrissa Gueye handled in the box, but the Ethiopian referee rejected their penalty appeals after checking the incident on the VAR monitor.
Coach Aliou Cisse had acknowledged on Saturday the “hardest is yet to come” for a Senegal side trying to win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time.
The Teranga Lions are the highest-ranked African nation, at 22nd in the world, and Cisse is bidding to lead his country a step further than the team he captained in an agonising penalty shootout defeat to Cameroon at the 2002 final.
“We’re close to the goal, in the sense of us being in the semi-finals. Having got to this stage here we have hope. But we know the hardest is yet to come,” said Cisse, who missed the decisive spot-kick in that loss to Cameroon.
“We hope this year will be the right one. We’re two steps away, which is both a long way and not that far at the same time,” he added. -AFP
