Sadio Mane ends Senegal’s Africa Cup of Nations jinx as Mo Salah reignites penalty shootout debate – The Warm-Up
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Updated 07/02/2022 at 12:00 GMT
Senegal are Africa Cup of Nations champions, with Sadio Mane scoring the winning penalty and Mohamed Salah ultimately unused as Egypt’s last taker. Beyond that, we celebrate the tournament as a whole and a mighty upset in the FA Cup with non-league Boreham Wood travellling to Everton next. Plus, there were a few throwbacks in Europe.
'We never gave up' - Cisse as Senegal win AFCON to make history
MONDAY’S BIG STORIES
The Mane man
The final that was somewhat overly built up as Sadio Mane against Mohamed Salah ended with the Liverpool duo patiently waiting as the shootout got going between Senegal and Egypt.
Salah cut a nervous figure, but that was nothing on the pacing Mane, who prowled behind his team-mates as each penalty was taken.
His own penalty miss in regular time was no doubt on his mind, a saved attempt which kept up Senegal’s run of failing to score in an Africa Cup of Nations final – this their third overall – but fate just so happened to hand Mane a shot at redemption after Edouard Mendy’s save moments prior.
Mane, with the weight of a nation’s hopes resting on his shoulders, barely hesitated when stepping up and tucking away a penalty into the corner, a spot-kick so superbly taken you could hardly believe the circumstances that surrounded it.
Relief, and elation, for Mane, with his penalty crowning Senegal as kings of Africa for the very first time, and he went over to console club team-mate Salah – the penalty taker that never was.
Egypt’s fifth but arguably best taker from the spot was not required, although with two misses beforehand he was most certainly needed.
RE: When should your best penalty taker step up, arguments for almost every position from first to fifth were made, with the pressure scenario of a potential fifth penalty deemed worthwhile to place your best taker there (Jamie Carragher revealed Steven Gerrard was ready for the fifth in Istanbul).
Getting them to go first seems the obvious choice, while fourth offers a greater guarantee of being required. It seems there is no right answer, really, although fifth is not exactly a popular one, seen as the vanity role – with Salah sitting out likened to Cristiano Ronaldo going unused in Portugal’s Euro 2012 semi-final shootout defeat to Spain.
It’s a toughy, but for those at Warm-Up HQ it’s anything but fifth.
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Wild celebrations on streets of Dakar as Senegal claim first AFCON title
Afcon: King of the moment
And so let’s go back to Afcon more specifically. At times short of goals, sometimes lacking in consistent quality, but indisputably a tournament where moments are plentiful.
There is a case to say it is the best continental tournament going. Certainly no event can match it for colour, for the support, the player entrances, and arguably even for goals – this edition produced banger after banger after banger.
There were strange moments, yes, like the referee blowing the final whistle twice before 90 minutes, scenes CAF and African football would much rather avoid, but there was also Salima Mukansanga becoming the first female referee to officiate an Africa Cup of Nations match (Uefa take note) and the performance of Bamlak Tessema, who showed Premier League referees how to use VAR in the semi-final between Senegal and Burkina Faso.
It’ll certainly be empty without a daily hit of Afcon.
Boreham Wood head to Everton
Around 1,400 travelling Boreham Wood supporters witnessed an FA Cup upset few saw coming. The non-league side beat Championship club Bournemouth 1-0 to book a date at Goodison Park against Everton, and it was marvellous viewing.
Mark Ricketts was the 37-year-old winning goalscorer, manager Luke Garrard was in tears when taking in his side’s accomplishment, while Kane Smith was celebrating with an Everton ‘Hibbert’ shirt – taking on the club he loves next in a dream match-up.
This is what the FA Cup’s about, and a day after Kidderminster Harriers’ late heartbreak against West Ham, it only felt right.
IN OTHER NEWS
In Europe, the clock was well and truly rolled back this weekend. On Saturday, there was Olivier Giroud scoring a quickfire double to turn the Milan derby in AC's favour against Inter, and then Sunday saw Jordi Alba and Dani Alves getting on the scoresheet as Barcelona recorded a comfortable and notable win over Atletico Madrid.
Meanwhile, Messi was back doing what he does best, so nonchalantly too despite his dearth of goals for PSG this season. Perhaps the real nod to the future was Dusan Vlahovic's opening goal for Juventus, who will hope a late push for title is still possible, especially with the on-fire Serbian in tow.
IN THE CHANNELS
Plenty from the weekend, naturally, so here’s a hat-trick for good measure…
RETRO CORNER
Happy 54th birthday Brian Deane, former Sheffield United striker but more importantly the answer to an absolute classic pub quiz question.
The scorer of the very first Premier League goal…
COMING UP
There are three Premier League games tomorrow but tonight it is pretty quiet on the live football front. Just a handful of matches across European leagues including Athletic Bilbao vs Espanyol if you need to keep that run of watching a match per day going.
Why not watch the Winter Olympics instead then, eh, eh, eh - on discovery+.
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