\nYAOUNDE, 7 Feb: After years of underachievement, Sadio Mane\u2019s Senegal finally lived up to their billing as Africa\u2019s outstanding team with victory in the Cup of Nations, even if they did it the hard way in the final against Egypt.
\nMane could have been the fall guy in his showdown with Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah after his seventh-minute penalty was saved at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde.
\nHowever, after a turgid final finished 0-0 in extra time, he redeemed himself by converting the decisive spot-kick in the shoot-out which the Lions of Teranga won 4-2 before Egypt captain Salah had the chance to take his team\u2019s last shot.
\n\u201cYou know what made the difference when I missed the first penalty? All my teammates came up to me and said \u2018Who cares, we are a team, we win together and we lose together\u2019,\u201d Mane said.
\nHe and his fellow Senegalese players had just burst into coach Aliou Cisse\u2019s press conference, singing and dancing as they celebrated finally ending decades of disappointment.
\nAfrica\u2019s top-ranked national team and 20th in the world, Senegal lost the last Cup of Nations final in 2019, falling 1-0 to Algeria in Cairo, never recovering from a second-minute goal.
\nThey also lost the 2002 final on penalties to Samuel Eto\u2019o and Cameroon, a few months before becoming one of just three African teams to reach a World Cup quarter-final.
\nCisse was captain then and coach in 2019. It is third time lucky for him, while Mane was one of four survivors from the last final to start against Egypt.<\/p>\n
Mane \u2018living a dream\u2019
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the best day of my life, I think it\u2019s the most important trophy of my life,\u201d Mane said.
\n\u201cI\u2019m living a dream. I can\u2019t believe it. The wait was long but finally we did it. We are all happy and proud to win this trophy.\u201d
\nSenegal gained independence in 1960 but rarely qualified for the Cup of Nations over the next three decades and only emerged as a force with the 2002 side featuring Cisse and one-time Liverpool forward El Hadji Diouf.
\n\u201cThe Senegalese people have suffered a lot but I dedicate this trophy to Aliou Cisse. You can\u2019t begin to understand what he has brought to Senegalese football. He deserves everything,\u201d said Mane.
\nMane, the 29-year-old former African footballer of the year, draws most of the attention but Senegal\u2019s strength in depth is unique on the continent.<\/p>\n
Mendy\u2019s memorable year
\nTheir team in yesterday\u2019s final also contained nine starters based in Europe\u2019s big five leagues, including skipper Kalidou Koulibaly of Napoli, right-back Bouna Sarr of Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain duo Abdou Diallo and Idrissa Gana Gueye.
\nFor Chelsea\u2019s Edouard Mendy, the victory caps a remarkable nine months in which he also won the Uefa Champions League and the Fifa Best goalkeeper of the year award.
\nOne of several members of Cisse\u2019s squad born in France, Mendy is eligible to play for Senegal through his mother and featured at the 2019 AFCON only to lose his place because of injury.
\nThe giant 29-year-old missed the beginning of his team\u2019s adventure in Cameroon due to Covid-19 before reclaiming the gloves. His save from Egypt\u2019s Mohanad Lasheen in yesterday\u2019s shoot-out paved the way for Mane to win the title.
\n\u201cWe have been chasing this trophy for years and years,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe have a mixture of young players and more experienced ones. We had a difficult start to the tournament when a lot of things went against us but we always had faith and got our reward.\u201d
\nThe celebrations will go on and on in Dakar and around Senegal, but Cisse\u2019s players will quickly return to their clubs before regrouping at the end of March for a rematch with the Egyptians.
\nThis time it will be a decisive two-legged play-off for a spot at the World Cup in Qatar later this year, as Senegal look to the double over Salah\u2019s side. (AFP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
YAOUNDE, 7 Feb: After years of underachievement, Sadio Mane\u2019s Senegal finally lived up to their billing as Africa\u2019s outstanding team with victory in the Cup of Nations, even if they did it the hard way in the final against Egypt. Mane could have been the fall guy in his showdown with Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-183672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}