Night of contrasting emotions as Senegal mourn, Algeria celebrate
While one half of the stadium erupted into humongous celebrations immediately referee Alioum Alioum sounded is whistle for full time, the other half sunk into collective mourning. The Greens supporting Les Fennecs, most of whom had taken the short sojourn into Cairo from Algiers erupted into song and dance.
‘Campione, campione, alez, alez alez’ they sung in majestic harmony with another group breaking out in ‘viva la Algerie’ their hearts pumping in their chests and sweat dripping from their energetic celebrations.
Algeria had been crowned champions for the first time since 1990 and head coach Djamel Belmadi had won the coveted crown barely one year into the job. He will be celebrating his first anniversary as Les Fennecs head coach next month, but what an early birthday gift!
On the other end of the divide, Senegal boss Aliou Cisse walked away barely even before the sound of the referee’s whistle had died down. The pain of losing a second final, first as a player and captain and second as a coach was too heavy to bear.
He went into the dressing room, meditated on his disappointment and walked back to the pitch to join his players.
Cisse had helped Senegal turn over their fortunes since taking charge in 2015, but the luck of clinching a maiden Africa Cup of Nations title remained a mirage. On the pitch, Sadio Mane, Senegal’s poster boy was inconsolable.
He drowned himself in tears, head in the ground, his teammates trying to help him out in vain. So close was the AFCON title to Mane’s heart that he had earlier said he would be ready to trade his Champions League title for the AFCON medal.
After almost 15 minutes of talking among themselves and going down on their knees in prayer, Senegal players and officials with heavy feet walked to their fans and applauded them for their support
While the celebrations in Algiers, Oran and beyond will go all the way into Saturday morning, Dakar will be the direct opposite in another case of so near yet so far away.