Full-time: Uganda 0-1 Senegal
Sadio Mané’s first-half goal is enough to send Senegal into a quarter-final meeting with Benin. Mané also had a penalty saved by Onyango in the second half but that never really looked like mattering, as Uganda, so thrilling in the group stages, could not summon the ingenuity needed to penetrate Aliou Cisse’s solid, conservative side.
90+2 min: Peep! Peep! Peep! No, not the final whistle, just a description of a period of non-play littered with freekicks.
90 min: Uganda have three more minutes to find the inspiration that has so far eluded them.
87 min: Senegal file back and defend en masse. Uganda can’t break through and are soon dispossessed. Senegal are grinding their way to the quarter-finals ...
85 min: Baldé seeks to make an immediate impact with a searing run through the middle, then a dainty through-ball for Mané ... who treads on it!
Senegal substitutions: Baldé and Diagne on, Niang and Sarr off
82 min: “Gee willikers, Paul, a lot of yellow cards in this game but arguably the most crucial one, the second against Uganda’s keeper, was not given,” chirps Scott Bassett. “Senegal should be further out front and it has the feel of one of those games where Uganda could get a goal and be right back in it. I sense little or no urgency from Senegal here. Hard to figure out.” Aye, as I said, they may find themselves ruing their conservatism. I’m certainly lamenting it.
80 min: Another long-range freekick for Uganda. Will they try another improbable shot or come up with something more inventive? They go for the former. It’s a useful effort by Kateregga but Gomis gets both hands to it and pushes it to safety.
79 min: Uganda are still plugging away, mainly down the flanks. Senegal are looking a little edgy...
Uganda substitution: Kateregga on, Aucho off
77 min: A cute through-ball by Sabaly finds Diatta, who pulls it back towards Niang from the byline. But Awany steps in to put an end to the attack.
76 min: Wasulimbi does well to dispossess Sarr as the winger tried to go on a run down the right.
74 min: Sarr and Niang have had remarkably little impact so far.
72 min: Azira blems a daisy-cutter several yards wide from long range.
70 min: Koulibaly booked for a dicey sliding tackle on Okwi. He won the ball.
Senegal substitution: Diatta on, Saivet on. The youngster has the ability to knit things together nicely in midfield. Senegal need to find more fluency. They could also do with more urgency and enterprise.
67 min: Dinky interplay by Aucho and Miya in midfield. Lumala makes a smart dash forward in the hope of being supplied with a through-ball. Miya tries to oblige but it’s fractionally off.
65 min: Aucho makes a mess of his clearance, sending it out for a corner rather than in the other direction. But Awany heads the setpiece away near the penalty spot.
63 min: Lumala, who has been Uganda’s best attacker (along with Okwi, in fairness) wins a corner down the right. Miya’s delivery is flicked on at the near post, provoking panic in the Senegalese box. That is relieved, eventually, by an offside decision.
Onyango saves Mané's penalty!
Having been reprieved by a hitherto severe referee, Onyango flings himself to his left to push away the penalty! That’s the second spotkick Mané has missed in this tournament.
Penalty to Senegal
As I was saying...
Uganda’s attempt to play out from the back was foiled by a canny press by Senegal. Onyango charged off his line and threw himself recklessly at Mané, who shifted the ball wide of him and got clobbered. It’s stonewall penalty, and the keeper is extremely lucky not to get a second yellow card.
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58 min: Senegal are supremely confident in their ability to keep Uganda at bay but you can’t help thinking they may regret that: they are a little too conservative here, I reckon. They’re well capable of scoring again and again if they go for it.
Uganda substitution: Kyambadde on, Kaddu off.
55 min: Gomes jogs off his line to claim a hopeful pass into the Senegalese box.
52 min: Niang gives away a freekick with a wild sliding tackle on Azira, who goes down, but not holding his face.
51 min: Niang seems to have developed an unusual tic whereby often when he is tackled he goes down holding his face.
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50 min: Gueye gives the ball away and then fouls Owki in his eagerness to get it back. That gives Uganda a freekick about 25 yards out. It’s central. A trio of Cranes discusses what to do while Senegal build a wall. Miya goes for a shot. He curls it over the wall, but over the bar, too.
48 min: It’s been a scrappy start to the second half. Mané gets a little kick in the calves from Mugabi. No call for Yeovil Town players bringing dirty stuff to Afcon matches...
46 min: Off we go again. No personnel changes during the break.
Benin’s victory against Morocco today seems to have gone down well back home ...
Cotonou erupts tonight!
— Janine Anthony (@Chiquadiva) July 5, 2019
Scenes of Benin fans as their team knocks out Morocco from the #Afcon2019 .
The Squirrels are absolute heroes tonight! #BBCAfcon pic.twitter.com/pC2XINFMSD
Some news for fans of African football: Huddersfield have loaned Ramadan Sobhi to Al Ahly for the 2019-20 season.
Half-time: Uganda 0-1 Senegal
It hasn’t been the humdinger we hoped for, but it’s been acceptable. Uganda will be kicking themselves with the way they helped Senegal take the lead, giving the ball away in midfield before Sadio Mané finished tidily. Since then Senegal have been quite conservative, apparently feeling little need to take risks, especially with three Ugandans on yellow cards and the referee looking like he might dish out a few more. It’s up to Uganda to change something here. Expect to see Allan Kyambadde, a speedy agent of chaos, some time soon.
45+2 min: Gassama goes down as if clattered, but the replays do not suggest Okwi is guilty of anything untoward. A little surprisingly, the ref doesn’t think so either, so no card for Okwi.
45 min: There will be only two minutes of additional time. Apparently the referee is not as fastidious about time-keeping as he is about physical contact.
43 min: A snapshot by Okwi from 20 yards brings an awkward save from Gomis. It wasn’t the most convincing piece of goalkeeping and may encourage Uganda to try from distance again.
41 min: Miya sends the freekick towards the back post. Gomis tips it out for a corner. But none of the officials spotted that touch and have awarded a goalkick instead.
39 min: Sabaly bodychecks Lumala to concede a freekick near the right-hand corner of his own box. Lumala requires treatment before it can be taken because he took the force of the full-backs shoulder in his face.
37 min: Gueye canters down the left before hoisting up a high cross to the back post. Sarr jumps well but can’t guide his header on to the target.
35 min: For the second time in the game Onyango charges out of his box to challenge Niang. This time he stays on his feet and pokes the ball away from the attacker as he tries to go around him! A corner is all it costs his team in the end. But the corner should have produced a goal! Instead Koulibaly made a mess of a clear header from 10 yards. Most uncharacteristic of him.
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33 min: The Cranes are becoming vexed at being penalised nearly every time they go in for a tackle, especially as some of Senegal’s players appear to be playing to the referees’ austere approach to officiating. Also, and as previously mentioned, the Squirrels are on the march. Read all about it.
31 min: Aucho becomes the latest name in the fussy ref’s book for clunking into Niang from behind. Saivet takes the freekick, mid-way inside the Ugandan half, a little to the right. Ugand defend it well.
29 min: Corner to Uganda from the right. Miya with the outswinger. Okwi leaps above Gassama and sends a header just wide from eight yards!
26 min: Uganda have steadied themselves to an extent and are having a fair bit of possession, with which they are typically enterprising. But Senegal still look far sharper when they move forward.
24 min: Ndiaye overhits a crossfield pass. Gassama had made a good run into space down the right but wasn’t able to get on the end of a poor delivery.
23 min: Miya’s cross from the right is headed to the edge of the area. Okwi collects and then fires a powerful, swirling shot at goal from 18 yards. Gomis bats it away with one hand!
21 min: Mugabi and Lumala are looking like Uganda’s best hopes at the moment. Another attack led by them down the right has yielded a corner. It’s delivered to Aucho beyond the back post. Rather than go for a header, he tries to take it down on his chest with a view to unleashing a blaster with his left foot. But he doesn’t have the space for such elaborate plans, and now he doesn’t have the ball, either.
19 min: Senegal are hungry for more, and Uganda are struggling to keep track of their passing and movement. The Cranes need to weather this storm or their hopes will be blown away early doors.
Uganda substitution: Awany on, Wasswa off
17 min: Following that partly self-inflicted setback, things are getting worse for Uganda: Wasswa has to leave the pitch on a stretcher after picking up a strain of some sort.
GOAL! Uganda 0-1 Senegal (Mané 16)
Uganda give the ball away in midfield and Senegal take swift advantage, playing a couple of quick passes to send Mané scampering clear. The keeper charges out to meet him but Mané steers it past him with his left foot.
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13 min: Lumala and Mugabi swap zippy passes down the right. Mugabi then tries to catch out the keeper but shooting from way out wide rather than crossing. But Gomis is wide awake.
11 min: After prolonged treatment, Kouyaté douses himself with water and vows to continue. Within seconds of play resuming there’s another kerfuffle, this time as Ugandans surround Ndiaye to berate him for a shove on Lumala. Ndiaye cops a booking for that. It’s been very scrappy and tetchy so far and it it continues like that, it’s unlikely to end with 22 players on the pitch.
8 min: Another yellow for Uganda, this time for Okwi, who is deemed to have been too careless in his use of an elbow while challenging for an aerial ball with Kouyaté.
At Uganda v Senegal, which I thought had the greater chance of being today's shock prior to Morocco/Ziyech's brainfart. Could be a cracking game, and the 2,000 (?) fans in here making plenty of noise, but hosting it inside 75,000-capacity stadium is a real shame.
— Nick Ames (@NickAmes82) July 5, 2019
6 min: Saivet drills a low freekick towards the crowded penalty spot, but Miya whacks it clear. It was a sorry delivery, to be fair.
5 min: Yellow card for Onyango, who breathes a sigh of relief.
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3 min: Oh. That was a rather less clever decision by Onyango. He came hurtling out of the left-hand side of the box and slid into a tackle on Niang, missing the ball entirely and chopping down the forward. Senegal players immediately converge on the referee to demand a red card, but will it be interpreted as a clear goalscoring chance given that it was so wide and close to the byline? The ref allows the medics to come on and receive treatment while he ponders his verdict.
2 min: Saivet curls over an inswinging corner. Onyango decisively takes it at the edge of his six-yard box, then hurls a long ball forward for Okwi to chase. It comes to nothing but it’s more evidence of the Cranes’ eagerness to launch counter-attacks.
1 min: Senegal get the game going, wearing the green kit that some of their fans consider to be unlucky. Uganda are clad in their usual red and black number.
Benin beat Morocco!
The winners of this match now know they will face Benin in the quarter-finals: the Squirrels have just sensationally beaten Morocco on a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw. That came after an extraordinary end to the game, with Hakim Ziyech missing a penalty in stoppage time before Benin were reduced to 10 players after Khaled Adénon got one of the oddest red cards you’ll ever see.
Benin have still never won a match (in regulation time) at the Africa Cup of Nations, yet they are into the 2019 quarter-finals! Go Squirrels!
The excellent Ismaila Sarr returns to the starting lineup for Senegal, with Krépin Diatta slightly unlucky to be sacrificed. Mbaye Niang, on the other hand, is very fortunate to be given another start bearing in mind how many chances he has blown in this tournament so far.
Uganda: Onyango; Mugabi, Walusimbi, Wassawa, Juuko; Lumala, Azira, Aucho - Okwi, Kaddu, Miya.
Senegal: Gomis; Gassama, Kouyaté, Koulibaly, Sabaly; Saivet, B Ndiaye, Gueye; Sarr, Niang, Mané.
Referee: M Ghorbal (Algeria)
Preamble
Hello, and congratulations on choosing to be here. Your prize? This match, of course! It’s got the makings of a corker. Uganda have been one of the most entertaining teams in the tournament so far and, having achieved their ambition of reaching the knockout stages for the first time since 1978, will throw themselves at star-studded Senegal without fear. Not that they showed any inhibitions in their group games, when, after trouncing DR Congo, they came mighty close to shocking hosts Egypt on their own turf.
In fact, perhaps the Senegalese are the ones with the complex? That, at least, is what Kenya’s manager, Sébasiten Migné, offered before their last match by way of explanation for the Teranga Lions’ failure to ever win a continental title. Migné would probably have been better off keeping his thoughts to himself because his jabs succeeded only in provoking the Senegalese into drubbing Kenya. Today they’ll be looking to carry on where they left off, which means a humdinger could be brewing.
One of the most pleasing aspects of this tournament so far has been the way relatively unheralded players have matched – or even outshone – some of the brightest stars. So while Senegal will today field one of the world’s best forwards (Sadio Mané) and best defenders (Kalidou Koulibaby), the Cranes can point to several players whose claims for a place in a Tournament XI So Far would be at least as strong, such as the forwards Emmanuel Okwi (who plays his club football for Simba in Tanzania) and Patrick Kaddu (Kampala CCC), centreback Hassan Wasswa (El Geisha, Egypt) and, most of all, slinky midfielder Farouk Miya (HNK Gornica, Croatia). Add in a fine goalkeeper, Dennis Onyango (Mamelodi Sundowns), the buccaneering Abdu Lumala (Kalmar FC, Sweden) and defender Godfrey Walusimbi (currently without a club!), and there’s ample to reason to believe Senegal are going to have to demonstrate their class to come out on top here. This could be a treat.
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