Yaounde, February 5 (BNA): The African Cup of Nations final was overshadowed by the story of his Liverpool teammates, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, who will find themselves in two competing teams in the biggest football match on their continent.
Both are chasing their first major title with their country and have a chance to add international honors to their Premier League and Champions League titles at club level, reports The Associated Press.
Here are some things to know about Sunday’s African Cup final between Egypt’s Salah and Senegal’s Mane, which will take place in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde:
Salah vs. Mane
Both numbers 10 are looking for number 1.
There are a lot of similarities between Salah and Mane, and it’s not just the number 10 that they both wear when they play for their country.
Both have suffered bitter disappointments before in their quest to win their first African title. Salah was expected to be a catalyst for Egypt in the 2017 African Cup final, only for the Pharaohs to give up their 1-0 lead and lose to Cameroon.
Likewise, Mane was supposed to finally help present Senegal’s first African Cup in 2019. Algeria stole Mane’s moment in that final.
Much was expected of Salah and Mane at the African Cup, and both lived up to the hype with key goals. The two Liverpool strikers, also aged 29, will finally be separated at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday night when one wins and celebrates and the other has to deal with the pain of losing another final.
opposing coaches
There was another interesting courtside match between Egypt coach Carlos Queiroz and Senegal coach Aliou Cissé, only for Queiroz to be shown a red card in the semi-final and suspended from the touchline in the final.
The former Real Madrid and Portugal coach was a strong presence throughout the African Cup, regularly yelling at referees and complaining about their decisions.
Sissi, in turn, is a soothing figure for Senegal. He is also an inspiration after leading Senegal to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, which put Senegal football on the map. Senegal’s players said they wanted to win this match for Cisse, who was also a coach to the disappointment three years ago.
Cisse will be the second black coach in 30 years to win the African Cup.
Senegal advantage?
Egypt believes that Senegal has an unfair advantage because they played the semi-finals a day earlier than Egypt, and therefore they have an extra day to recover and prepare.
Egypt also had a difficult journey through the knockout stages, with all three of their matches going into extra time and two of them for penalties. Senegal won their matches in the original time.
This means that Egypt played 360 minutes of football in the run-up to the final, twice what Senegal played. Senegal might argue that they got the job done in normal time.
Cameroon Cup
The Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon was expected to be hit hard by the coronavirus after the tournament kicked off in the midst of a global boom brought on by the omicron variant.
The virus was crippling nearly every team, but the tragedy unfolded at an Olympic stadium two weeks ago, when eight fans died in a crush and stampede in a knockout match between Cameroon and Comoros.
An Olympic Stadium was almost stripped from the final due to that incident, and the stadium’s security will be closely monitored on Sunday evening.
Back to June
This may be the last CAF finals to be held in February, and that’s good news for Europe’s biggest clubs, which have repeatedly complained that the African Football Championship is stripping them of their African stars in the midst of their seasons.
Liverpool, for example, has been without Salah and Mane for more than a month in its Premier League campaign.
Organizers have committed to holding at least the next two editions of the African Cup – in Ivory Coast and then Guinea – in June and July, when the European championships spend their summer holidays.
insult