What was Brahim Diaz thinking?
There had already been a delay of nearly 16 minutes and Sadio Mane and Edouard Mend, in the Senegal goal, hadn’t been short of advice as Diaz finally got the ball and prepared to take the disputed penalty kick. At that point, only he knows what was going through his mind. Top scorer at AFCON with five goals and the talisman for his team, the expected match-winner chose that moment to go for a Panenka penalty. It’s that sort of kick that when it comes off, it you look like a hero and it goes viral. When you fail, as Diaz did on Sunday night, it goes viral for the wrong reasons. Diaz was inconsolable afterwards, while Senegal played extra time with the energy of a team that had been given a reprieve.
Sadio Mané common sense saves Senegal
With Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, watching on and a host of other senior CAF officials also in the stands in Rabat, it would’ve had catastrophic consequences for Senegal football had the final been abandoned. Pape Thiaw, the coach, was incensed, first over a goal being ruled out without VAR being consulted, and then Senegal conceding a penalty seconds later at the other end. But there was no excuse whatsoever for the reaction that followed.
Whether that be the crowding of the referee as he went to the VAR monitor or the jostling and pushing afterwards, the behaviour from the Senegal bench was unforgivable. Had they walked off and stayed in the dressing room, not only would they have faced a likely ban from at least one or two AFCON tournaments, their World Cup place too might’ve been in jeopardy. Such would’ve been the disrepute that they had dragged football into. Thankfully, Mane – wearing the captain’s armband in Kalidou Koulibaly’s absence – has played enough years on the big stage to have the presence of mind to calm down and call his teammates back. He ensured that Mendy faced up to and saved the penalty, and then his teammates went on and clinched the game with a wonderful goal.
Pape Gueye strike brings back memories of super goal against Denmark in 2002
Senegal‘s first World Cup appearance in 2002 is mostly remembered for the manner in which they upset France, the defending champions. But their best game was perhaps the 3-1 destruction of Denmark, which saw an incredible team goal scored by Salif Diao who ran nearly 80 m from the edge of his box into the Denmark one to finish off a move that was started by Henri Camara. That included a delightful backheel from El-Hadji Diouf, similar to the one Mane pulled off in Rabat to open up the space for the Idrissa Gueye pass that released his namesake in the fourth minute of extra time. The finish from the Villarreal midfielder was absolutely emphatic and even Yassine Bounou, who played like Spiderman in the Morocco goal, had no chance?
How much was Onauhi missed?
During their run to the World Cup semi-final in 2022, one of the key players for Morocco was their No. 8, Azzedine Ounahi, a box-to-box midfielder whose energy and tempo-setting play upset more fancied opponents. He limped off with a calf injury midway through the tournament, and though Morocco regrouped to reach the final, they couldn’t establish any sort of midfield dominance in the summit clash. Part of the reason for that was the absence of Ounahi’s energy. He should be fit and ready for the World Cup and his return will be eagerly awaited.
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