Senegal lifted the AFCON 2021’s trophy for the first time ever after beating the Egyptian national team thanks to a penalty shootout. Both teams were obliged to play for 120 minutes plus additional time before resorting to penalties since neither team was able to turn the table to their advantage in regular time. The match included several duels and impressive stories. Yet, the battle between Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané was a particular one since it has many layers.
The match itself was a balanced one with Senegal showing more determination and ability to score when compared to their opponent while Egypt knew how to defend well and prevent Senegal’s excellent and dangerous attacking players from scoring. Another crucial factor that supports this idea is Egypt’s goalkeeper performance. In fact, Mohamed Abou Gabal was selected as the man of the match despite losing the final and that has a clear explanation. Abou Gabal saved his team on several occasions from conceding a Senegal goal during the match and during extra-time. Moreover, he was crucial during penalty shootouts despite losing as he kept the players in the course after Mohamed Abdelmonem missed a penalty.
Egypt will look back at this match with a lot of frustration but at the same time, they should be proud of their performances during the competition. They were able to face and beat some of the best teams in the continent including Morocco, Ivory Coast and the hosts, Cameroon. Also, they should exploit this match and transform their negative feelings into a positive motivation since they will be needing it very soon when they face the same team, Senegal, for the play-off match of FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers.
In this tactical analysis article, the focus will be on both teams’ tactics and especially on Senegal’s lack of concretisation in the final third while shedding some light on Egypt’s defensive performance and what they should have done better in transition and in attack.
Line-ups
Senegal started the match using the 4-4-2 formation with Edouard Mendy as a goalkeeper, Bayern Munich’s Bouna Sarr, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, Paris Saint-Germain’s Abdou Diallo, and Nancy’s Saliou Ciss in defence. The midfield was composed of Crystal Palace’s Cheikhou Kouyaté, Leicester City’s Nampalys Mendy and Paris Saint-Germain’s Idrissa Gueye while the front three that started the match were Watford’s Ismaïla Sarr, Alanyaspor’s Famara Diedhiou and Liverpool’s Sadio Mané.
On the other side, Egypt preferred to use the 4-3-3 formation, relying on Mohamed Abou Gabal as a goalkeeper, Zamalek’s Emam Ashour as a right-back, Al Ahly’s Mohamed Abdelmonem and Zamalek’s Mahmoud Hamdy as centre-backs and Zamalek’s Ahmed Fattoh as a left-back.
The midfield was made up of Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny, Al Ahly’s Amr El Solia and Hamdi Fathi while the attack included the Egyptian legend, Mohamed Salah, who played on the right-wing with Stuttgart‘s loanee, Omar Marmoush, being a left-winger. In front of them, Galatasaray’s striker Mostafa Mohamed did his best to disturb Senegal’s defence while being supported by both wingers.
Egypt’s defensive and attacking performance
Egypt started the match badly by conceding a penalty to their opponents following a penetration from Ciss who exploited Ashour’s devastating error. In fact, Ashour tried to intercept a cross directed towards Ciss but he failed and therefore left all the space for the latter, allowing him to penetrate towards the penalty box and oblige Abdelmonem into committing a foul on him inside the box and leaving his direct opponent. Abdelmonem tried to only touch the ball with his sliding tackle, yet, he was not successful in doing so since Ciss was quicker than him, obliging him to touch his foot only.
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