\n<\/p>\n
With DR Congo extending a 2-0 half-time lead to a three-goal advantage on the hour mark against Botswana in Rabat, the race was on to avoid a less favourable-looking path through the knockout stage for the top two.<\/p>\n
Winning the group has spared Senegal a meeting with two-time champions Algeria in the last 16, as well as guaranteeing they will not face three-time winners Nigeria or host nation and tournament favourites Morocco before the final.<\/p>\n
Video assistant referee (VAR) decisions have been a regular feature of this Afcon and Seck’s powerful header was subject to a lengthy check to decide that the centre-back had not handled the ball, which appeared to come off his shoulder as it flew past Marcel Dandjinou.<\/p>\n
Knowing the predicament his team faced, Pape Thiaw sent on Sunderland midfielder Habib Diarra and Paris St-Germain forward Ibrahim Mbaye for Monaco’s Lamine Camara and Everton playmaker Iliman Ndiaye at the break.<\/p>\n
Mane’s burst inside the box and clever cut-back set up Diallo to put Senegal back on top of the group, but they remained dependent on DR Congo’s fortunes, with Koulibaly’s dismissal for treading on Aiyegun Tosin’s ankle – again assessed by VAR – adding to the drama.<\/p>\n
Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy made excellent saves to tip Junior Olaitan’s free-kick over the crossbar and deny Rodolfo Aloko in a one-on-one before Cherif Ndiaye put their final position beyond doubt, converting from the spot after Abdoul Rachid Moumini impeded Mbaye.<\/p>\n
Gernot Rohr’s Benin will now hope to cause an upset against Egypt and repeat their run to the quarter-finals on their most recent Afcon appearance in 2019, while Senegal will hope to vanquish memories of their last-16 defeat in 2023, when they lost to eventual champions Ivory Coast on penalties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With DR Congo extending a 2-0 half-time lead to a three-goal advantage on the hour mark against Botswana in Rabat, the race was on to avoid a less favourable-looking path through the knockout stage for the top two. Winning the group has spared Senegal a meeting with two-time champions Algeria in the last 16, as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}