Senegal 1-0 Benin
Senegal are through to the last four of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations as Idrissa Gueye scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Benin.
With some of the best teams already out, notably Egypt, Senegal knew they had a great opportunity, and they took it tonight thanks to a man-of-the-match performance from the Everton midfielder Gueye.
After a frustrating first half for the Lions of Teranga, they came to life in the second and went ahead in a moment of real quality. Michel Dussuyer’s Squirrels had given their all but were eventually overrun and were lucky to keep the score down as Senegal dominated against 10-man Benin.
Highlights of the game
Senegal started brightly enough, and when Kalidou Koulibaly found Sadio Mane with a through ball on 10 minutes, he got his shot away but it was blocked.
The Liverpool man latched onto another ball minutes later but this time was caught offside. That was a signal that Senegal’s top scorer was about to have a frustrating half.
The Teranga Lions had another opportunity midway through the first 45 when Henri Saivet swung in a corner, but Cheikhou Kouyate’s header flew wide.
Benin have shown they are a difficult side to score against, and the Lions of Teranga had struggled to break down a stubborn Uganda side in the Round of 16. The Squirrels were handling all that Senegal could muster and began to venture into attack themselves.
Benin top scorer Mickael Pote met Cebio Soukou’s free-kick, but his scuffed shot rolled inches wide. Then, Jordan Adeoti let fly from outside the box to force Alfred Gomis into making a good save in his top corner.
Captain Stephane Sessegnon worked hard in the Benin midfield and the first half went exactly to plan for the Squirrels. They beat Morocco on penalties to get to this stage and that looked like their strategy again as they made it to half-time at 0-0.
Senegal came closest to breaking the deadlock just before the break, but the Benin defenders put their bodies on the line as shots rained in from M’Baye Niang, Keita, and Idrissa Gueye.
After such a frustrating first half Senegal, thought they’d broken through on 53 minutes. Koulibaly put in a superb ball which Mane headed down and into the net, but the linesman raised the offside flag.
Saivet had a good chance with a free-kick on the hour, but he blasted his attempt too high.
But on 66 minutes, Benin came within a whisker of scoring when Gomis had a nightmare. As a harmless ball rolled towards the Senegal keeper, he somehow fluffed his kick and the ball squirted inches wide of his post. What a let-off!
Then, the Lions of Taranga went ahead with a moment of real quality. Gueye started the move just inside the Benin half and took a return pass from Mane before firing an unstoppable shot into the left corner.
Benin goalkeeper Saturnin Alagbe had been a passenger up until then, but he was picking the ball out of the net again a minute later when Mane burst through and slotted the ball home. VAR checked and Mane was denied again. It was a tight one, but Mane’s shoulder might just have played the striker off.
On 75 minutes Aliou Cisse was wondering how on earth his team wasn’t out of sight when Mane lobbed the ball over Alagbe and fell to Niang, whose shot was blocked. Mane’s follow-up was then cleared off the line.
And then as Gueye burst through on goal, he was chopped down by Verdon who rightly received his marching orders.
Key statistics
Senegal had 66 per cent possession in the first half but didn’t manage a shot on target while Benin had the one. But by the final whistle Senegal had 14 shots to Benin’s nine, and four to three on target.
The pre-match Senegal vs Benin betting odds of 1.47 for Cisse’s team looked about right in the end and the most likely result of 1-0 at odds of 3.60 came up trumps thanks to the linesman, VAR and some heroic defending!
While Benin go out without registering a win in 90 minutes in the tournament, this was a first defeat for the Squirrels, while Senegal have kept four clean sheets on the way to the semi-final.
What’s next?
The other two quarter-finals take place tomorrow when Algeria will take on the Ivory Coast, and Tunisia will hope they can avoid being Madagascar’s latest victim.
For all SBOBET Africa Cup of Nations out there, it’s going to be another fascinating day in Egypt and we’ll be back again with the Africa Cup of Nations 2019 updates as they happen.
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