Senegal conquered Africa again on Sunday night, defeating host Morocco 1-0 after extra time in Rabat to win the Africa Cup of Nations and ignite raucous celebrations from the Atlantic shore to the Sahel. Fireworks crackled above Dakar, horns blared and flags waved as the Teranga Lions claimed their second continental crown in four years behind a dramatic winner from Pape Gueye and a performance that withstood a chaotic finish.
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- Score: Senegal 1, Morocco 0 (after extra time)
- Match-winner: Pape Gueye for Senegal
- Venue: Rabat, Morocco
- Incidents: Fans tried to storm the field; Senegal’s players briefly walked off to protest a penalty decision in second-half stoppage time
- Title count: Senegal’s second Africa Cup of Nations championship (after 2021 vs. Egypt)
- Aftermath: President Bassirou Diomaye Faye declared Monday a public holiday and promised financial rewards
The final, played in searing tension at Morocco’s capital, swung on Gueye’s extra-time strike and the champion’s composure during a combustible endgame. At one point, pockets of fans attempted to enter the field, and in the dying moments of regulation, Senegal’s players walked off in protest at a penalty awarded against them. The game resumed, and Aliou Cissé’s side, true to its nickname, fought like lions to the finish.
When it was over, Dakar became a sea of green, yellow and red. In the Parcelles Assainies neighborhood, a working-class suburb where improvised street parties spilled into the night, Pape Ndiaye waved a flag and shouted above a chorus of vuvuzelas and motorbike engines. “Our team has shown that it is the best in Africa,” he said, beaming. “It’s a well-deserved victory. The Lions fought like true lions.”
Senegal’s triumph consolidates an era that began with the country’s first continental title in 2021, a cathartic win on penalties over Egypt that rewrote decades of near misses. This time, the Lions did it with nerve and patience on the road, subduing Morocco’s surge and keeping shape through the nerves of stoppage-time controversy. That resilience resonated back home.
“The Senegalese team showed its strength and why it is the best team in Africa,” said Mamadou Alpha Diallo, a 26-year-old education student who watched in Dakar with a crowd that ebbed between delirium and dread. “The team showed maturity in a difficult match. The referee played with our emotions. We were stressed and exhausted, but Senegal persevered.”
In a televised address, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye hailed the squad and placed the victory in a patriotic frame. “The joy is indescribable,” he said. “We experienced a whole range of emotions. We saw men on the field. Patriots fighting for our honor. This is a victory for the lions, first and foremost, for the coaching staff, and for the entire Senegalese people.” He announced Monday would be a public holiday so the nation could celebrate and promised financial rewards for the team.
As his words aired, students massed on the grounds of Cheikh Anta Diop University, turning the campus into an all-night block party of drums, whistles and dancing. “I’m not sleeping tonight, and we’re going to celebrate until the early hours. No Senegalese person will sleep tonight,” said Sidy Sylla, a Ph.D. student. “With the World Cup coming up, the world needs to know that Senegal is no longer a small team; it’s a team to be feared.”
The match in Rabat embodied much of what has elevated Senegal under Cissé: organization without fear, a willingness to absorb pressure, and the punch to decide tight games. Though the final frayed at the edges — the attempted pitch incursion and the stoppage-time penalty flashpoint will linger — Senegal’s veterans steadied the group and let the moment come to them. When it did, Gueye applied the ruthless finish that breaks tournaments open.
For Morocco, hosting added weight to a stage already laden with expectation. The Atlas Lions’ bid to reign at home ran into a Senegalese side comfortable living on a fine margin. Finals are often decided less by flowing football than by fortitude, and on this night the champions owned that thin line between nerve and panic.
In Dakar, the sporting theater translated into national catharsis: car horns stitched together neighborhoods; children draped in flags climbed onto shoulders; vendors who set up TVs on sidewalks found themselves swallowed by spontaneous parades. The capital’s energy mirrored a simple reality for a football-mad country — these nights are about more than a trophy. They are about recognition, identity and the right to proclaim the Lions as Africa’s standard-bearers again.
Senegal leaves Rabat with silverware, a holiday at home and the validation that its golden generation remains hungry. The continent’s champions are still Africa’s team to beat — and they are celebrating accordingly.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
