May 10, (THEWILL) – Senegal has become the first African country to qualify for the 2023 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Brazil, after a resounding 5-0 victory over South Africa in the quarter-finals of the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.
Two own goals by South Africa’s central defenders and a goal by Mamadou Sadio and skipper Amara Diouf’s brace secured the victory for Senegal in a match played at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers on Wednesday.
This marks the first time that Senegal has progressed beyond the group stages of the U-17 AFCON and subsequently qualified for the World Cup. The Teranga Cubs demonstrated an impressive performance in the competition, scoring three goals in seven minutes late in the first half to completely break down South Africa’s resistance.
With a 3-0 lead, Senegal dominated the remaining minutes, and South Africa’s fighting spirit was hugely dented. In the second half, Senegal needed just nine minutes to get their fourth goal, which had to be given by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) used for the first time in the tournament.
Diouf scored his second goal of the match in the 71st minute, capping off an excellent performance for the Senegalese team and punching their ticket to the World Cup.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
