Senegal beat Algeria 5-4 on penalties in the final of the African Nations Championship (CHAN 2022) on Saturday. The game ended with a score of 0-0.
When Aymen Mahious went up to get the 10th penalty kick, he had a chance to win a tournament only open to football players competing in their own nation.
His shot, though, was feeble and direct at Pape Sy, who made a comfortable stop to maintain the score tied at 4-4 and force a sudden-death extension of the shootout.
In the midst of boos from many in the sold-out crowd of 39,120 spectators at the Stade Nelson Mandela in Algiers, Ousmane Diouf calmly executed to give Senegal the lead.
To keep Algeria's chances of winning alive, Ahmed Kendouci needed to score, but after his attempt deflected off the crossbar, Senegal won the match.
The home team won a year after the whole Senegal squad, which included players like Sadio Mane, defeated Egypt on penalties to claim the title of Africa Cup of Nations champions.
The fact that teams from west Africa made it to five of the other six Nations Championship finals but lost them all made it a happy moment for the whole continent.
After the championship game in 2014 in Cape Town ended without a score, this was the second final to be decided by penalties. Libya beat Ghana on penalties.
There were just four goal opportunities in 120 minutes in a tight, physically taxing match in Algiers, with three of them coming from Algeria.
In the 107th minute, Sy expertly deflected a shot from Houssem Mrezigue, which was the effort that came very close to ending the game.
The cagey 120-minute attacking style duel was notable for the fact that neither team was flagged for offside, despite each receiving four yellow cards.
In earlier iterations of the national team tournament, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (twice each), Libya, and Tunisia took first place.
Friday's match for third place in the west, in the city of Oran, was also exciting. Madagascar beat Niger 1-0 thanks to a goal by Jean-Yves Razafindrakoto in the final seconds.
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