2019 Africa Cup of Nations final

2019 Africa Cup of Nations Final

The Cairo International Stadium hosted the final
Event	2019 Africa Cup of Nations
Senegal Algeria 0 1
Date	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)
Venue	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
Man of the Match	Raïs M'Bolhi (Algeria)[1]
Referee	Sidi Alioum (Cameroon)
Attendance	75,000

The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Final was a football match that determined the winner of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. The match was held at the Cairo International Stadium in Cairo, Egypt, on 19 July 2019 and was contested by Senegal and Algeria.^[2]

Algeria won the final 1–0 for their second Africa Cup of Nations title, and their first since 1990.^[3]

Background

The Africa Cup of Nations, organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), is the primary international association football competition for African national teams.^[4] The 2019 tournament was the 32nd edition since its inaugural event. While Cameroon was initially slated to host the event, the CAF stripped the country of this privilege in November 2018 due to concerns surrounding the lack of preparation and event security.^[5] There was speculation that Morocco would apply to host the event, but it ultimately declined to do so.^[6] Egypt and South Africa applied to host the event; the former was chosen in early January 2019.^[7]

This is the first time in the history both teams face each other in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, having previously faced each other in the group stage of the edition three times and in the semi-finals once. Overall record is favorable for Algeria, having won three, draw one and never lost to Senegal in the AFCON history.

Both Senegal and Algeria were grouped in Group C of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Senegal entered the group stage with an easy 2–0 win over Tanzania.^[8] However, Senegal suffered a big setback after losing 0–1 defeat to the Algerians when Sadio Mané made his debut in the tournament.^[9] Senegal soon bounced back by a 3–0 win over Kenya,^[10] thus qualified to the round of sixteen with the Algerians. Senegal managed to beat both Uganda^[11] and Benin^[12] in the round of sixteen and quarter-finals with the same 1–0 results. Senegal, in the semi-finals against Tunisia, struggled harder due to Tunisia's defensive style of play and almost got led by the Tunisians until Ferjani Sassi missed the penalty; Henri Saivet also failed to convert from the spot after his side got the same opportunity, but the Senegalese got a lucky own goal by Dylan Bronn to finally obtain another 1–0 win after 120' to march to the final for the second time, having done it so in 2002.^[13][14]

Algeria, also shared similar group with Senegal, began with a 2–0 easy win over Kenya,^[15] before managed to defeat its largest opponent, Senegal, 1–0.^[9] The Algerians easily ended the group stage with a 3–0 to Tanzania with three goals in the first 45 minutes.^[16] Algeria continued its rampant performance with a 3–0 win over Guinea in the round of sixteen,^[17] but struggled harder against Ivory Coast, being held 1–1 after 120' before overcame the Ivorians 4–3 in penalty shootout.^[18] The Algerians then put up an outstanding performance, beating African powerhouse Nigeria 2–1, with a late minute goal by Riyad Mahrez in a free kick spot to reach their first ever final since winning at home at 1990.^[19][20]

Route to the final

Further information: 2019 Africa Cup of Nations

Senegal		Round	Algeria
Opponents	Result	Group stage	Opponents	Result
Tanzania	2–0	Match 1	Kenya	2–0
Algeria	0–1	Match 2	Senegal	1–0
Kenya	3–0	Match 3	Tanzania	3–0
Group C runners-up Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1  Algeria 3 9 2  Senegal 3 6 3  Kenya 3 3 4  Tanzania 3 0 Source: CAF		Final standings	Group C winners Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1  Algeria 3 9 2  Senegal 3 6 3  Kenya 3 3 4  Tanzania 3 0 Source: CAF
Opponents	Result	Knockout stage	Opponents	Result
Uganda	1–0	Round of 16	Guinea	3–0
Benin	1–0	Quarter-finals	Ivory Coast	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)
Tunisia	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Semi-finals	Nigeria	2–1

Pre-match

Officials

Although Victor Gomes from South Africa was chosen at first to officiate the final, the CAF decided to change official referee and replaced Gomes by Sidi Alioum, who officiated the opening match between Egypt and Zimbabwe. CAF staff later admitted they had mistaken referee to officiate the final, as they planned to call Sidi Alioum but later turned into Victor Gomes.^[21] Sidi Alioum himself had officiated in a number of matches, including 2014 FIFA World Cup, as well as a number of CAF Champions League matches.

Match

Summary

The only goal of the match was scored in the 2nd minute when Baghdad Bounedjah cut in from the left and shot with his right foot from just outside the penalty area with the ball taking a huge deflection off defender Salif Sané, looping over the goalkeeper and down into the right corner of the net.^[22][23]

Details

19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)

21:00

Senegal	0–1	Algeria
	Report	Bounedjah 2'

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 75,000^[24]

Referee: Sidi Alioum (Cameroon)

Senegal

Algeria

GK 23 Alfred Gomis RB 21 Lamine Gassama  80' CB 6 Salif Sané CB 8 Cheikhou Kouyaté (c) LB 12 Youssouf Sabaly CM 5 Idrissa Gueye  79' CM 17 Badou Ndiaye  59' RW 18 Ismaïla Sarr AM 14 Henri Saivet  75' LW 10 Sadio Mané CF 9 M'Baye Niang  85' Substitutions: FW 15 Krépin Diatta  59' FW 19 Mbaye Diagne  75' FW 11 Keita Baldé  85' Manager: Aliou Cissé

GK 23 Raïs M'Bolhi RB 18 Mehdi Zeffane CB 2 Aïssa Mandi  90+2' CB 4 Djamel Benlamri LB 21 Ramy Bensebaini  33' RM 7 Riyad Mahrez (c) CM 17 Adlène Guedioura  90+4' CM 22 Ismaël Bennacer LM 8 Youcef Belaïli  54'  84' SS 10 Sofiane Feghouli  85' CF 9 Baghdad Bounedjah  89' Substitutions: MF 11 Yacine Brahimi  84' DF 3 Mehdi Tahrat  85' FW 13 Islam Slimani  89' Manager: Djamel Belmadi

Man of the Match: Rais M'Bolhi (Algeria)[1] Assistant referees: Evarist Menkouande (Cameroon) Nguegoue Elvis Guy Noupue (Cameroon) Fourth official: Eric Otogo-Castane (Gabon) Reserve assistant referee: Waleed Ahmed Ali (Sudan) Video assistant referee: Benoît Millot (France) Assistant video assistant referees: Bakary Gassama (Gambia) Zakhele Thusi Siwela (South Africa)

Match rules[25] 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Maximum of twelve named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions, with a fourth allowed in extra time.

See also

• 2019 Africa Cup of Nations knockout stage

References

1. CAF [@CAF_Online] (19 July 2019). "And the winner of the Total Man of the Match is R. M'bolhi!" (Tweet). Retrieved 19 July 2019 – via Twitter.
2. "Official Match Schedule" (PDF). 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
3. "Algeria claim second Afcon title after Bounedjah's lucky strike sinks Senegal". theguardian.com. Guardian News & Media Limited. 19 July 2019. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
4. "2019 Africa Cup of Nations: Fixtures, results and coverage". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. 18 July 2019. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
5. "Cameroon stripped of right to host 2019 Africa Cup of Nations". the Guardian. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
6. Bassam, Tom (13 December 2018). "Morocco: 'We don't want to host 2019 Afcon'". SportsPro. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
7. Etchells, Daniel (8 January 2019). "Egypt named as hosts of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations". www.insidethegames.biz. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
8. "Senegal make light of Mane's absence in win over Tanzania". Ahram Online. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
9. "Belaili fires physical Algeria to win over Senegal to reach Nations Cup last 16". Ahram Online. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
10. "Kenya 0-3 Senegal: Sadio Mane double punishes Harambee Stars at Afcon 2019". sports.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
11. "Africa Cup of Nations: Uganda 0-1 Senegal". BBC Sport. 5 July 2019. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
12. Doyle, Paul (10 July 2019). "Senegal 1-0 Benin: Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final – as it happened". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
13. "Senegal beat Tunisia 1-0 in extra time to reach Africa Cup of Nations final". France 24. 14 July 2019. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
14. "Senegal 1 Tunisia 0". BBC Sport. 14 July 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
15. "Mahrez scores as Algeria enjoy a 2-0 victory over Kenya". 24 June 2019. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
16. "Ounas Shines As Group C Winners Algeria Stay Perfect With 3-0 Win Over Tanzania". beIN SPORTS USA. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
17. "Algeria Beat Guinea to Advance to Quarter-Finals". beIN SPORTS USA. Archived from the original on 10 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
18. "Algeria sink Ivory Coast on penalties to reach Afcon semis". Standard Digital News. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
19. "Late Mahrez free-kick sends Algeria into CAN 2019 final". AS.com. 14 July 2019. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
20. "Algeria 2 Nigeria 1". BBC Sport. 14 July 2019. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
21. "Afcon 2019: South African referee Victor Gomes dropped from final duty | Goal.com". Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
22. "Senegal 0 Algeria 1: as it happened". Guardian. 27 July 2019. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
23. "Senegal 0 Algeria 1: as it happened". BBC Sport. 27 July 2019. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
24. "Senegal vs. Algeria". ESPN.com. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
25. "Regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). Confederation of African Football. 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.

External links

• Official website