Senegal defeat Gambia to emerge U-20 AFCON Champions
The Young Teranga Lions of Senegal beat their neighbours Gambia 2-0 on Saturday to win their first ever TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.
Goals from forward Sulaymane Faye and midfielder Mamadou Camara in the Egyptian capital of Cairo were enough to secure Senegal victory over their arch-rivals.
The West African side qualified to Saturday’s final with a hundred percent record winning all their matches without conceding a goal.
The Young Teranga Lions were playing their fourth TotalEnergies U-20 AFCON final having finished runners-up in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Malick Daf’s side have followed in the footsteps of the senior Teranga Lions, the Beach Soccer national team and the home-based national team in winning continental glory over the last year.
The Young Teranga Lions started better at the Cairo International Stadium with their direct approach causing the Young Scorpions problems at the back.
They then broke the deadlock after six minutes through Sulaymane Faye’s header from a cross down the right channel.
The Gambian defense failed to deal with Pape Diallo’s cross which allowed Faye to head into an unguarded goal.Mamadou Camara made it 2-0 in the 56th minute for the Senegalese.
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In the individual awards Senegal dominated as Pape Diop emerged top scorer with five goals, Lamine Camara emerged Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Landing Badji won the best goalkeeper award and the Flying Eagles got the Fair Play award.
Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria and Tunisia will represent Africa at this year’s U-20 World Cup in Indonesia.
Recall that Senegal won the last Nations Cup hosted by Cameroon.