Wily Egypt block Senegal's path to first Afcon title

Yaoundé

The delayed 2021 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, (Afcon), wraps up Sunday night here at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde with a fascinating final between seven-time record champions, Egypt and Senegal at 10pm Kenya time.

Both teams are coming to the final having lost their previous Afcon finals. Senegal comes with fresh memory of 2019 where they lost to Algeria while Egypt still keep memories of 2017 when they were defeated by Cameroon in the final.

The game will feature two English Premier League’s stars facing each other, but far from their trophy-laden stints with Liverpool, neither Sadio Mane nor Mohamed Salah has tasted the joy that comes with winning the Afcon trophy.

It has been a difficult tournament for Cameroon, scarred by the deadly Olembe Stadium crush of January 24 and troubled by organisational chaos and poor attendances, yet it has thrown up a heavyweight final showdown between two African giants.

Cameroon hoped to be there themselves, but the five-time Afcon winners who dreamed of lifting the trophy on home soil were beaten on penalties by the Egyptians in Thursday's semi-final.

As a country, Egypt have the experience of seven past Cup of Nations victories, although the most recent was in 2010 when they claimed their third in a row.

On the other hand, stars-studded Teranga Lions of Senegal are Africa's most powerful football nation according to latest Fifa ranking, but have never been continental champions, in stark contrast to Egypt who are ranked sixth but have conquered the continent seven times.

Senegal had a sluggish start at the tournament, netting just a goal at the group stages thanks to a 97th minute penalty converted by Mane to give his side victory over Zimbabwe in their group opener. That would be Senegal’s lone goal and victory at the group stage as they settled for barren draws against Guinea and Malawi in subsequent group fixtures.

Solid defence

Senegal came to the knockout stages as the only team yet to concede with Chelsea’s goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy showing he is currently one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

His impressive show in goal was boosted by support from a solid defence led by Kalidou Koulibaly. They have since put up an impressive performance up to the semis where they defeated Burkina Faso 3-1.

They will hope to upset Egypt’s dream of an eighth title and savour continental glory for the first time, but this will not be a very easy task.

Like Senegal, Egypt did not also start their eighth title campaign on a good footing losing to Nigeria in their opener before coming back powerfully with victories over Guinea-Bissau and Sudan.

While Mane has scored three goals in the tournament, Salah is trailing him with two, but the Pharaohs will be looking up to the EPL lead scorer to lead them to their eighth Afcon title.

Salah made his international debut in 2011 and is now desperate to win silverware with the Pharaohs having already been in the team that lost the 2017 final to Cameroon and then went out prematurely as hosts in 2019.

Third time lucky

Senegal, meanwhile, have the status of Africa's top-ranked national team but also the pressure of a nation to finally claim their first Cup of Nations crown after losing to Algeria in the deciding game two and a half years ago.

"We knew it was not going to be at all easy to get to two straight Afcon finals, but the most important for us now is to go all the way and win it," Mane said after scoring one goal and making another in the 3-1 semi-final defeat of Burkina Faso.

The Lions of Teranga are hoping it will be third time lucky in the final after they also lost the title decider in 2002, going down on penalties to Cameroon.

Aliou Cisse was the captain of that team and then the coach in 2019. Nobody knows better than him what it would mean to Senegal to get the monkey off their back.

His side must take advantage of the extra day's rest afforded them given their semi-final was played 24 hours earlier than that of their opponents, and Senegal have also come through all three knockout ties in 90 minutes.

In stark contrast, Carlos Queiroz's Egypt required penalties to beat the Ivory Coast in the last 16 and extra time to overcome Morocco in the quarter-finals before another shoot-out against Cameroon -- the equivalent of a whole extra match in often energy-sapping conditions.

That explains why Egypt assistant coach Diaa al-Sayed suggested moving the final back a day to allow his team more time to recover.

"Senegal have one extra day to train and therefore maybe we should play the final on Monday," he said after the semi-final.

This Cup of Nations has already seen the Confederation of African Football announce last-minute venue changes without offering an official explanation, while the third-place play-off was belatedly brought forward a day to Saturday.

Egypt, though, will not get their wish and must try to avoid the fate of Croatia, who similarly needed two penalty shoot-out wins and another in extra time to reach the 2018 World Cup final, where they were well beaten by France.

"We are the only team that has played three times 120 minutes but we are very well prepared physically and we have the commitment needed to keep going to the end," insisted Al-Sayed.

Egypt will be without veteran Portuguese coach Queiroz after he was shown a red card against Cameroon, while right-back Omar Kamal is suspended too.

They must also hope Salah can have more of an impact on the game than he did in the semi-final when he often appeared isolated on the right flank.

Without doubt Senegal have the greater depth, from Chelsea's Mendy in goal to skipper Koulibaly in central defence, Paris Saint-Germain's Idrissa Gana Gueye in midfield and Mane on the wing.

Mane, like Salah, gets the attention but Senegal will hope their collective strength can make the difference.