CAIRO: Riyad Mahrez scored from a free kick in the fifth minute of injury time as Algeria beat Nigeria 2-1 on Sunday and progressed to the African Cup of Nations final against Sadio Mane’s Senegal.
Mahrez thundered his left-footed match-winner into the net in effectively the last kick of the game to stunningly settle the semifinal at Cairo International Stadium.
Algeria will play for a second African title and first in nearly 30 years in Friday’s final. Senegal goes for its first African Cup title after 54 years of trying.
The teams met in the group stage at this tournament when Algeria won 1-0.
The final will also feature an intriguing Premier League subplot as Manchester City’s Mahrez comes up against Liverpool’s Mane.
Senegal went through after beating Tunisia 1-0 in an extra-time thriller at the 30 June Stadium across Cairo.
Both semifinals had dramatic VAR moments, with the referee video review system being used for the first time at the African Cup this year. The referees made good use of it in the semis, with two drawn-out decisions.
Algeria led Nigeria through a first-half own-goal by William Troost-Ekong. Mahrez’s cross deflected off another Nigerian defender, then hit Troost-Ekong in the midriff and went in.
Algeria was pegged back when Nigeria was given a penalty for handball after a long VAR referral by Gambian referee Bakary Gassama, who initially didn’t award the spot-kick. A shot by Oghenekaro Etebo hit his own teammate Odion Ighalo and the arm of Algeria defender Aissa Mandi at just about the same time. Gassama didn’t give it at first, then referred to the TV screen on the sidelines more than a minute later and went back for the penalty.
Nigeria took its opportunity — contentious as it was — to level at 1-1 from the spot through Ighalo.
But Algeria captain Mahrez won it at the very death, hammering his free kick into the net and sprinting half the length of the field to celebrate with teammates on the bench.
“This free kick arrived and, with the quality of a player like Mahrez, it’s a massive chance at a goal,” Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi said. “Thank God we made it.”
There were tense moments off the field at Cairo International also as Algerian fans and local Egyptian spectators began throwing plastic bottles at each other over a fence that separated them. Some of the Egyptians had started to cheer for Nigeria over Egypt’s North African rivals.
Lines of yellow vested security personnel were brought into the stands to stand between the supporters.
Senegal won the first semifinal with an own-goal in the 100th minute when Tunisia goalkeeper Mouez Hassen pushed a free kick onto the head of defender Dylan Bronn and the ball bounced back into the goal.
It was another game of high drama.
On a day when the sports world was treated to epic contests at the Wimbledon men’s tennis final and the Cricket World Cup final, the African Cup held up its end of the bargain.
Senegal and Tunisia both missed penalties within a few minutes of each other in regulation time.
Tunisia was then given another penalty late in extra time only for referee Bamlak Tessema Weyesa to check the VAR TV screen on the sidelines and dramatically reverse his decision — to the dismay of the Tunisians.
Tunisia should have gone ahead after winning the first penalty in the 73rd, when Ferjani Sassi’s shot hit the upper arm of Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly as he threw himself in the way to block it.
Sassi took the penalty himself but Senegal goalkeeper Alfred Gomis saved easily.
Senegal had its chance almost straight after, with Ismaila Sarr hacked down in the area.
Henri Saivet took the spot-kick instead of Mane, who missed two penalties earlier in the tournament. His penalty was low and hard to the bottom right corner, but Hassen dived full-stretch and brilliantly deflected it away with his left hand.
Hassen was responsible for deciding Tunisia’s fate, though.
In extra time, he went to punch away a free kick but only forced it onto Bronn’s head and it rebounded into the net.
The most contentious moment came right near the end after Senegal’s Idrissa Gueye was initially penalized for another handball in the area. The ball was headed down by a teammate and struck Gueye’s hand as he tried to pull it away at the side of his body.
Ethiopian referee Weyesa awarded the penalty, then decided to make the long run over to the sidelines to check with the VAR.
After another long delay, he ran back onto the field waving his arms to signal no penalty.
Senegal has made it to just one final before, in 2002. Current Senegal coach Aliou Cisse was a member of that 2002 team and he dropped to his knees with arms held aloft in celebration at the final whistle.
Algeria beats Nigeria, sets up final match with Senegal in African Cup
Algeria beats Nigeria, sets up final match with Senegal in African Cup
- Algeria will play for a second African title and first in nearly 30 years in Friday’s final
- Senegal goes for its first African Cup title after 54 years of trying
Smylie wins on LIV Golf debut, leads Ripper GC to team title in Riyadh
- Jon Rahm and Torque GC finish second in the individual and team competitions respectively
RIYADH: Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith believes his new teammate Elvis Smylie can one day become the best golfer in the world. After the 23-year-old Australian produced four sizzling rounds to win on his LIV Golf debut, the rest of the league may very well share the same sentiment.
Smylie capped off an impressive first week under the lights at Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh, shooting a final-round bogey-free 8-under 64 on Saturday to hold off a hard-charging Jon Rahm by one stroke. He also led the Rippers to the team title, as the Aussies swept both trophies going into their biggest tournament of the season at LIV Golf Adelaide next week.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Smylie, who officially joined the team last month. “I really didn’t know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here. I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best out here, and I feel like I’ve done that. It’s only up from here.”
Smith agreed. “The crazy thing is I still think he’s got a lot of improving to go, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week. I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He’s got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and knuckle down.”
With the win, Smylie earns the projected points allotted by the Official World Golf Ranking to the winner of this week’s LIV Golf tournament. The OWGR announced earlier this week that points will be awarded for LIV Golf tournaments this season to the top 10 and ties. Smylie entered the week ranked 134th and is expected to move up significantly with the victory.
Smylie’s winning score of 24 under is the lowest in league history, a byproduct perhaps of the league’s adjusted format from 54 to 72 holes. He also beat the biggest field in LIV Golf history after an increase from 54 to 57 players this season.
But more impressive than the raw numbers was Smylie’s sublime play, especially with a new blade putter. “Everything looked like a bucket for me, which is nice,” said Smylie, who ranked third in the field in strokes gained putting.
He needed a hot putter down the stretch to create some separation from the field, then withstand the last-ditch rally by Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and two-time LIV Golf individual champion.
Rahm started the day two shots behind co-leaders Smylie and Peter Uihlein and was three strokes behind when Smylie birdied the par-4 12th. But the Spaniard closed fast with birdies on five of his last six holes, including the last four.
He drove the green at the 396-yard par-4 18th but could not convert the eagle putt. Still, his final birdie put the finishing touches on a 9-under bogey-free 63, the lowest round of the week, and reduced Smylie’s lead to one.
Smylie, however, was not aware of the slim margin until hitting his approach shot at the 18th that left him on the edge of the green.
“I actually didn’t know that I had to two-putt the last green,” he said. “I thought I would have had a two-shot lead going into 18. But as soon as I was walking up the green, I saw that I only had one, so I’m like, I’ve got to clutch up here and make sure to get this up-and-down.”
Rahm, who shot a final-round 11-under 60 in his last regular-season LIV Golf tournament in Indianapolis last year to clinch his second consecutive season-long title, pointed to his failure to make birdie at the par-5 sixth and a poor approach shot at the par-4 11th as missed opportunities. Even so, he was pleased with making a run to earn his fifth runner-up finish and 25th top-10 result in 27 regular-season LIV Golf appearances.
“It was a fantastic round of golf, shot 9-under,” he said. “Elvis had a great day and a two-shot lead. If anything, if there’s one or two shots to look at, I’ve got to go to earlier in the week.”
RangeGoats GC’s Uihlein finished third after shooting a 67 for 21 under, while Fireballs GC’s David Puig and 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters shot 65s to share fourth place with Torque GC’s Abraham Ancer.
The team competition turned into a battle between Ripper and Torque. The Australians started off fast, with Marc Leishman beginning his round with four straight birdies; the team collectively was 11 under through their first six holes.
Torque responded with Ancer, making his first start for his new team after four years with Fireballs GC, and Sebastian Munoz each shooting 66.
But the 64s by Smylie and Lucas Herbert were supported by Smith’s 65 and Leishman’s 69 to produce a fourth-round team score of 26 under, the third-best single round team score in league history. Ripper’s tournament total of 69 under is a league record as they won their fifth regular-season team title by three shots.
