Pape Diallo stars as Senegal book place at U20 AFCON quarters
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Senegal booked their place in the quarter-final of TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations Egypt 2023 following a flawless 3-0 hammering of Mozambique on Wednesday.
Pape Diallo was the star of the match with his brace seeing off the Young Os Mambas in the Group A encounter at the Cairo International Stadium.
The Generation Foot graduate scored on the stroke of half time to give Senegal a deserved lead.
His namesake Pape Diop doubled their lead seven minutes into the second period before he completed his brace with a towering close-range header five minutes from time to secure their victory of the tournament and confirm their place in the last eight.
The Young Teranga Lions dominated the match with Mamadou Lamine Camara and Lamine Camara dictating the tempo of the match while captain Samba Diallo and goal scorers Pape Diallo and Pape Diop caused mayhem in the Mozambican half.
Senegal made their intentions known in the early stages of the match when Pape Diallo and Sulaymane Faye had a sniff at goal. Diallo latched on to Lamine Camara’s floated ball at the back post forcing Fazito to pull a save for Mozambique after 15 minutes.
Soulaymane Faye saw his glancing header agonizingly miss the target from strike partner Pape Diallo’s inviting cross into the area.
The Os Mambas weathered the early Senegal storm as they controlled the ball in their area trying to catch Malick Daf’s team on the break.
Senegal broke the deadlock with the last kick of the half through Diallo’s close range tap in from Lamine Camara half volley which Fazito turned to his path and the ex-Generation Foot striker made no mistake to give his side the lead.
Diop doubled Senegal’s advantage with an instinctive strike after 52 minutes when he guided the ball past the keeper following Samba Diallo’s ferocious effort that came off the far post.
The Os Mamba failed to create much as Senegal showed their dominance throughout the match in the Egyptian capital.
Diallo, who played for Senegal at the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship in Algeria last month, put the icing on the cake with a delightful header to complete the riot.
