Young Teranga star Lamine Camara scored twice as Senegal succeeded to reach the 4th final in the last five editions of the TotalEnergies U20 Africa Cup of Nations. In total control and well aided by mistakes from the opponents, the Junior Teranga Lions made light work of Tunisia (3-0) on Monday in the semi-finals.
Senegal will battle the final out against neighbors Gambia, after their one-nil win against Nigeria in the other semi-final match-up.
Senegal started like a house on fire and eventually burnt Tunisia. Left loose about twenty meters from the Tunisian goal, Pape Diop scored his 5th goal of the tournament with a remote-controlled shot at the 7th minute.
Almost immediately, Zinedine Sassi was guilty for lack of concentration with an attempt of a hazardous back pass to his goalkeeper Raed Gazzeh, allowing Lamine Camara to emerge with the ball to make it 2-0 at the 17th minute.
With their heads under water from the start, the Tunisians remained alive thanks to saves from Gazzeh. On a nice passage of play after a set piece, Ali Saoudi would have helped his team pull one back at the half-hour mark but the later failed to square his header, while Mahmoud Ghorbel missed the follow-through at the far post on a cross from Mohamed Derbali.
After the break, another howler dashed the hopes of the Carthage Eagles and allowed Lamine Camara to fold the case with a double, after Souleymane Faye and initially had their shots deflected, before Camara’s finish at the 52nd minute.
This Senegalese team which has still not conceded a single goal or dropped any point, will be hard to stop. The youngsters of Malick Daf are in search of the first crown in the history in the competition.
By Brian Mboh