By Daily Sports on July 6, 2019

Benin stunned Africa Cup of Nations title contenders Morocco on penalties to reach the quarterfinals for the first time after a 1-1 draw in Cairo on Friday.

Moise Adilehou put Benin ahead early in the second half before Youssef En-Nesyri equalised, but Hakim Ziyech blew the chance to seal victory for Morocco by striking the post with a 96th-minute penalty.

Sofiane Boufal and En-Nesyri both missed in the shootout as Benin, who reached the last 16 on the back of three draws, triumphed 4-1 on spot-kicks.

In the second match of the evening, Senegal overcame Uganda 1-0. As a result, the Lions of Teranga secured their place in the quarter-finals where they will face Benin on Wednesday, while the Cranes crashed out of the tournament.

The Cranes contained the Lions of Teranga in the opening exchanges, but they conceded fouls that saw Denis Onyango and Emmanuel Okwi being booked very early.

Senegal piled pressure on the Uganda defence and Aliou Cisse's men managed to break the deadlock 15 minutes into the encounter.

Mbaye Niang's low pass sent Sadio Mane through on goal and the Liverpool FC forward fired past on-rushing goalkeeper Onyango to make it 1-0 to Senegal. 

Uganda tried to respond with a goal when Okwi unleashed a thunderous shot which was parried away by Senegal shot-stopper Alfred Gomis in the 23rd minute.

The Cranes created chances, but they were wasteful as Okwi missed the target with a header just before the half-hour mark.

Farouk Miya then played a dangerous curling free-kick into the Senegal box, but his Uganda team-mates failed to make contact with the ball.

The score was 1-0 to Senegal at the interval with Uganda having failed to convert their chances.

The two teams attacked each other in the early stages of the second-half and the Lions of Teranga were awarded a penalty after Mane was fouled by Onyango into the box just before the hour-mark.

However, Mamelodi Sundowns shot-stopper Onyango made amends as he denied Mane from the spot-kick with the Senegal vice-captain missing his second penalty in the tournament.

The Senegal defence which was marshaled by Kalidou Koulibaly looked solid and Mike Azira tried his luck from range in the 71st minute, and Ugandan midfielder's effort missed the target.

Allan Kateregga was introduced by Cranes coach Sebastien Desabre with 13 minutes left and he tried to make an immediate impact, but his free-kick was parried away by Gomis. 

Senegal were able to hold onto their slender lead in the closing stages of the match and ultimately, they ran out 1-0 winners over Uganda on the night.

•Based on reports by SuperSport and African Football. Photo shows celebrating Beninoise players 

Source Daily Sports

Posted July 6, 2019

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