CASABLANCA, Morocco: El Bilal Toure scored the winning spot-kick as 10-man Mali beat Tunisia 3-2 on penalties on Saturday to reach the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals after their last-16 tie had finished 1-1 at the end of extra time.
It looked as if Tunisia had got the job done against a Mali side forced to play most of the game a man down when substitute Firas Chaouat headed the Carthage Eagles in front in the 88th minute.
Mali had defender Woyo Coulibaly sent off in the 26th minute at the Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca, but earned a reprieve when they were awarded a stoppage-time penalty.
Lassine Sinayoko converted from the spot to take the tie to extra time and eventually on to the decisive shoot-out.
Captain Yves Bissouma, the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, blazed Mali’s first kick over the bar, but Ali Abdi then missed for Tunisia before Eagles goalkeeper Djigui Diarra saved two further penalties and Toure won it.
Tom Saintfiet’s Mali advance to a quarter-final next Friday in Tangiers against West African neighbors Senegal, after the 2022 champions came from behind to beat Sudan 3-1 earlier.
“Before the game I said my team were already heroes and now there is no other word,” said Belgian coach Saintfiet.
“Every player fought for their country and did everything to stay in this competition, and the goalkeeper helped us in the penalty shoot-out.”
Mali have never won the Cup of Nations and their prospects here were not helped when right-back Coulibaly, currently based in Italy’s Serie A with Sassuolo, was shown a straight red card for raking his studs down the back of Hannibal Mejbri’s calf.
Yet the game remained goalless and extra time was looming when Tunisia finally made their numerical superiority count as Elias Saad flighted a ball into the box and Club Africain striker Chaouat stole a march on his marker to head home.
That goal was celebrated by the majority of the 41,982 crowd in Morocco’s largest city, with many locals choosing to give their backing to their fellow North Africans.
And yet a tie that appeared to be over took a dramatic twist in injury time, with South African referee Abongile Tom pointing to the spot when the ball struck the arm of Tunisia defender Yassine Meriah inside the area.
Auxerre forward Sinayoko kept his cool through a long delay as the official consulted with the VAR team before converting the penalty with the match in the 96th minute.
Tunisia toiled to create chances in extra time as heavy rain fell — the conditions forcing many spectators in the largely uncovered stadium to abandon their seats.
Chaouat had the ball in the net again at the start of the second period of extra time, but was this time denied by the offside flag.
A penalty shoot-out appeared inevitable and so it transpired, with Bissouma and Nene Dorgeles failing from the spot for Mali.
However, Abdi’s miss and Diarra’s saves from Elias Achouri and Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane allowed Mali to win it when Toure — who had failed to score a penalty in the same stadium against Zambia in the group stage — stepped up to score.
