APA-Dakar (Senegal) The Teranga Lions of Senegal, on Tuesday evening, toppled the Auriverde at the José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon, Portugal.
It was a landmark victory for the African champions.
After parting as good friends on October 10, 2019 in Singapore, Senegal and Brazil met again at Sporting Clube
Portugal, a venue that had rallied to the South Americans’ cause.
Boosted by their 4-1 victory over Guinea’s Syli National on Saturday, the Seleção got off to a perfect start against the Lions. In the absence of Neymar, Vinicius inherited the number 10 jersey. The winger was his usual lively self on the left, and found Lucas Paqueta’s head for the opening goal (1-0, 11’). Moments later, the Real Madrid player
was awarded a penalty following a challenge from Pathe Ciss. In the end, an offside position saved Senegal’s day.
The Lions recovered after this scare. Ismail Jakobs sent in a cross from a loose ball cleared by the Brazilian defense, but it was blocked by the ‘Auriverde’. Habib Diallo was well placed when the ball fell to him, and sent a powerful left-foot volley past Ederson (1-1, 22’). The half-time whistle sounded, despite chances on both sides.
After the break, Senegal put Brazil to the wringer in the space of just three minutes. Under pressure from Habib Diallo, who latched onto Ismaila Sarr’s header, Marquinhos scored an own goal (1-2, 52’). The Lions, thanks to a wonderful curling shot from Sadio Mané, crucified the Seleção (1-3, 55’).
But Brazil quickly reduced the deficit through Marquinhos. The central defender made amends by heading the ball past Senegalese keeper Mory Diaw (2-3, 58’). From then on, the Lions tightened up their block in their own half to prevent the Auriverde from finding any passing rythm.
This strategy paid off.
Senegal repelled all of Brazil’s attempts before killing off any chance of a suspense in the dying seconds of the game.
From a deep ball, striker Nicolas Jackson, who had come off the bench, ran
straight into the box and was indisputably fouled by Ederson.
The referee pointed to the penalty spot. Sadio Mané opened his right foot
to take the penalty, wrong-footing the Manchester City goalkeeper (2-4, 90+7’).
The friendly match was then over. Three days after being held to a 1-1 draw by Benin on Match Day 5 of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Senegal beat Brazil, ranked 3rd by FIFA), behind Argentina and France.
In their glorious history, the Seleção had never conceded four goals in a single match against a team from Africa.
And not since their 7-1 spanking in the 2014 World Cup semi-final against
Germany had the ‘Auriverde’ conceded four goals.
In other words, the Lions’ victory is historic in more ways than one.
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