By Emmanuel Yaw Nkansah
The ongoing 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations has its first quarterfinalist after a dominant display saw Senegal almost effortlessly brush aside an inferior Mozambican side to book an early spot in the knockout phase. Meanwhile, Nigeria breathed life back into the qualification hopes by narrowly defeating Egypt in the second Group A fixture.
Mozambique was unable to resist their Senegalese opponents and were comfortably beaten 3-0 in a game that clearly illustrated the gulf in class between the two sides.
Despite their obvious superiority, Senegal had to wait until the second minute of first-half injury time to break the stubborn Mozambican defense as a shot on goal from Lamine Camara was parried into the path of Papa Diallo by the Mozambican goalie, Joao Fasistencio.
Diallo made no mistake from close range and tapped in the rebound to give Senegal the lead. With Mozambique trailing at halftime, things only got better for Senegal and worse for Mozambique in the second half as continued pressure from the Senegalese yielded a second goal when Pape Demba Diop buried the ball in the net after captain Samba Diallo’s shot at goal had rebounded off the post into his path in the 53rd minute.
Mozambique was pretty much down and out after conceding the second goal and a third goal for Senegal in the 85th minute by Papa Diallo, and when he headed home an excellent cross from Souleymane Basse, it was the final nail in the coffin of Mozambique. A dominant performance by Senegal against a woefully awful Mozambique side which failed to even hit a single shot on target over the course of the entire match secured an early place in the quarterfinal for the Young Teranga Lions.
Nigeria’s bid for an 8th U-20 Afcon title gained a critical lifeline as a determined defensive performance coupled with lethal finishing upfront when needed saw them narrowly beat Egypt in a game which they were the worse side.
Despite the game being ‘fairly’ balanced overall, Egypt created a couple of decent goalscoring opportunities and should have taken the lead, but some excellent goalkeeping by Chijioke Aniagboso kept the game goalless. The game remained level until the 71st minute, when Nigeria broke the deadlock from a set-piece; Solomon Chinoso Agbalaka’s header from an excellent corner kick by Muhammad Aminu found the back of the Egyptian net and gave Nigeria an important lead. Egypt launched a series of attacks after conceding in an attempt to find a way back into the game, but it was all for naught as the Nigerians held on to their lead to claim an important 1-0 victory.
Senegal having secured qualification, will not necessarily need to beat Egypt in their last group stage match, but a perfect Group stage cleanout should be enough motivation for the Young Teranga Lions to make quick work of their opponents.
Egypt will be desperate to claim a win against Senegal to gain some chance of qualifying from the group but will require a favorable outcome from the Nigeria-Mozambique match.
A win is all that is needed by Nigeria to book a quarterfinal place. Conversely, the same is true for their final matchday opponents, Mozambique, as a win against Nigeria could potentially propel them into the quarterfinal should Senegal defeat Egypt.
An interesting round of Matchday 3 fixtures await in Group A, and you can catch all the action live on Saturday, February 25, on GTV Sports+.
