{"id":1097678,"date":"2019-07-10T19:07:07","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T18:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1097678"},"modified":"2019-07-10T19:13:09","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T18:13:09","slug":"benin-senegal-africa-cup-of-nations","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/benin-senegal-africa-cup-of-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"Winners and losers as Merseyside magic inspires Senegal to Afcon semi-finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senegal are through to the\u00a02019 Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals after fending off Benin 1-0 at the\u00a030 June Stadium in Cairo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was little between the two nations in the opening 45 minutes, with Senegal dominating play but struggling to find an opening past a resolute Benin defence.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7311398-alexander-arnold-s-perfect-mentor-the-goat-right-back-is-available-for-free<\/p>\n

However, persistence eventually paid dividends for the\u00a0Lions of Teranga as Idrissa Gana Gueye scored the opening – and only – goal of the match to secure a vital win for his nation.<\/p>\n

It was a nervy opening quarter-final match in this latest instalment of Afcon, but who were the winners and losers?<\/p>\n

Winner:\u00a0Idrissa Gana Gueye<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With Senegal dominating but struggling to unlock an exceptionally resilient Benin defence, Everton enforcer Idrissa Gana Gueye took matters into his own hands by breaking the deadlock in the 70th minute with a quite breathtaking finish.<\/p>\n

Collecting the ball from his habitual central midfield area, the 29-year-old decided against playing a routine sidewards pass, and instead looked to seek out Merseyside contemporary Sadio Mane, sending a crisp pass forward before going on a marauding run of his own.<\/p>\n

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Mane had to hold the ball up and time the pass to perfection – he done both to world class ability. Using his physicality to shield the ball, he managed to protect it before laying it off to his compatriot, who surged into the box and unleashed an emphatic opening strike.<\/p>\n

And he would be at it again less than 15 minutes later, charging forward on one of his energetic runs to draw a foul from\u00a0Olivier Verdon, who saw red after bringing down the Everton anchorman – together with Mane, the Merseyside duo produced the moments of magic.<\/p>\n

Loser:\u00a0Mustapha Ghorbal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With the match finely balanced in the first half, Benin will feel massively aggrieved as they should have taken a slender 1-0 lead into the interval after\u00a0Cebio Soukou fired home a thunderous strike past\u00a0Alfred Gomis in the 44th minute. Unfortunately for Soukou, referee Mustapha Ghorbal was quick to put whistle to mouth and rule the goal out for an alleged foul from the Bochum-born attacker.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0Badou Ndiaye foolishly tried to dribble out from his own box,\u00a0Soukou came rushing in with a flying slide tackle, and looked to have timed his challenge to absolute perfection before unleashing a bullet effort into the back of the net. In real time, the challenge looked clean, and upon further inspection from a slow motion replay, the video evidence confirmed initial suspicion – Benin should have been a goal to the good.<\/p>\n