{"id":24680,"date":"2026-01-16T22:29:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/afcon-2025-senegal-stand-in-way-of-moroccos-50-year-wait-for-glory\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T22:29:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:29:26","slug":"afcon-2025-senegal-stand-in-way-of-moroccos-50-year-wait-for-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/afcon-2025-senegal-stand-in-way-of-moroccos-50-year-wait-for-glory\/","title":{"rendered":"Afcon 2025: Senegal stand in way of Morocco&#8217;s 50-year wait for glory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Senegal, meanwhile, progressed past record seven-time champions Egypt in the last four <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/live\/ce8rg4263y1t\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">thanks to a second-half strike from talisman Sadio Mane.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The 33-year-old netted the winning penalty in the 2021 final, also against the Pharaohs, and proved once again that he is the man for the big occasion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The former Liverpool forward is keen to pick up another winner&#8217;s medal, having seemingly announced that this will be his last appearance at Afcon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;A final is meant to be won,&#8221; Mane said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I will be very happy to play my last Afcon final, to enjoy it and to make my country win.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However, Senegal have an array of attacking talent alongside Mane, with Iliman Ndiaye, Nicolas Jackson, Habib Diallo, Ismaila Sarr and 17-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye all offering a goal threat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Teranga Lions will be without captain Kalidou Koulibaly and midfielder Habib Diarra through suspension, but goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye are among the survivors from their last triumph.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">They will feature in the final for the fourth time, having lost the showpiece match in 2002 and 2019 before finally claiming the title four years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Thiaw, like Regragui, has also tasted Afcon defeat as a player as part of the squad which was beaten on penalties by Cameroon 24 years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However, he will have the chance to create his own piece of history, potentially becoming the first man to coach a side to both CHAN and Afcon glory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/cevn22grxgzo?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senegal, meanwhile, progressed past record seven-time champions Egypt in the last four thanks to a second-half strike from talisman Sadio Mane. The 33-year-old netted the winning penalty in the 2021 final, also against the Pharaohs, and proved once again that he is the man for the big occasion. The former Liverpool forward is keen to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-africa","category-world-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24682,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24680\/revisions\/24682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}