The Teranga Lions of Senegal became African champions for the second time on Sunday night, but with the drama of a lifetime.
Africa’s number one-ranked team and hosts Morocco fell to an extra-time goal on an incident-filled night that more than made up for the grumbles about the lack of upsets and high-octane drama the tournament had served before the day.
Villarreal’s 26-year-old midfielder Pape Gueye became the first Senegalese player to score in an Afcon final after steamrolling into Morocco’s box to unleash a left-footed thunderbolt into the top right corner of goal in the 94th minute of extra time.
Minutes earlier, this 2025 final had written its name in the annals of history, for all the wrong reasons.
At the end of 90 minutes, with the score at 0-0, the fourth official indicated eight minutes of added time that, remarkably, ended up lasting 25 minutes.
It all started when Senegal won a corner in the 92nd minute. Abdoulaye Seck, after outmuscling and flooring Morocco’s captain Achraf Hakimi, headed Yassine Bounou’s corner against the post before Ismaïla Sarr turned in the rebound.
Senegal’s jubilation quickly turned to consternation. The Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo disallowed the goal after ruling Seck had fouled Hakimi, prompting bitter protests from Senegal – their players, fans, and technical bench.
Referee Jean-Jacques Ndala awards a penalty to Morocco after a VAR review.
Photo credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh | Reuters
Television replay showed the PSG defender going down during the tussle with Seck, some would say rather easily.
The real storm that visited the match came in the 95th minute when the aftermath of yet another corner – this time taken by Morocco – sparked another melee. Brahim Diaz, the pint-sized Real Madrid forward, fell in the box after a tussle with El Hadji Malick Diouf.
Diouf cleared the corner, but Diaz rose up and hounded Ngambo for failing to spot the foul on him. VAR intervened, and Ngambo went to check the monitor as stewards tried hard to prevent members of both teams from surrounding him as he reviewed the incident frame by frame.
Ngambo returned to the pitch and pointed to the spot. Penalty for Morocco, but Senegal would have none of it. The replays showed a clear tag on Diaz’s shoulder by Diouf. Ngambo was right to award a penalty but in a tournament in which opponents have complained about referees favouring Morocco, there was already little room for objectivity.
Senegal's Sadio Mane celebrates after winning the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
Senegal’s coach, Pape Thiaw, waved his players off the pitch. Several went to the dressing room where they stayed until Sadio Mane, wearing the armband in the absence of the suspended Kalidou Koulibaly, urged them to continue with the match following a conversation with the revered Claude Le Roy and El Hadji Diuof.
Senegal’s walk-out was a first in an Afcon final and the first such incident since the 1978 Afcon when Tunisia abandoned their third-place play-off match against Nigeria. In the 1978 incident, the North Africans were leading 1-0 when Nigeria equalised in the 42nd minute.
Tunisia protested the goal and when the referee stood his ground, walked off the pitch, causing the match’s abandonment. Nigeria were awarded a 2-0 victory and Tunisia banned from the next edition of the tournament.
Edouard Mendy saved Diaz’s Panenka penalty as the referee immediately blew his whistle for 30 minutes of extra-time. Diaz, the tournament’s top scorer with five goals, had attempted the most humiliating coup de grace, a Penanka penalty kick, but it backfired on him as he squandered an opportunity to end his country’s 50-year wait for a second Afcon title.
Four minutes into extra-time, Neil El Aynaoui, playing with a heavily bandaged head, lost possession in midfield, allowing Senegal to string passes that worked the ball to Pape Gueye, who surged into Morocco’s box carrying pent-up anger and with every sinew of his left foot, he unleashed a thunderous shot.
Throughout the tournament, Senegal were domiciled in Tangier, a port city located 250 kilometres from Rabat.
They travelled to Rabat by train for the final. They complained of inadequate security at the train station upon arrival in Rabat. They had to change hotels because the one initially booked for them was not up to the standards they wanted.
They had been allocated only 2,800 tickets for a match that would be played in a 69,500-capacity stadium. They wanted their training ground changed, charging that training at the Mohammed VI training complex in Sale, where Morocco were also based, exposed them to spying by their opponents.
Their frustrations piled up during the match. Senegal were forced to have substitute goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf standing guard behind their goal to prevent Moroccan stewards and ball boys from confiscating Mendy’s towel that the goalie was using to dry his gloves on that wet night.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
Photo credit: Reuters
“It is unacceptable to leave the field of play in this manner, and equally, violence cannot be tolerated in our sport, it is simply not right. We must always respect the decisions taken by the match officials on and off the field of play,” said Infantino.
The Confederation of African Football said it was reviewing footage and that disciplinary proceedings will follow.
A superbly organised Afcon with world-class stadiums and infrastructure that had such an underwhelming conclusion. A final that everybody will want to forget in a hurry.
