Senegal start AFCON defence with statement win over Gambia amid media blackout

Lamine Camara and Sadio Mane celebrate Senegal's opening goal | Imago

FOOTBALL Senegal start AFCON defence with statement win over Gambia amid media blackout

Senegal start AFCON defence with statement win over Gambia amid media blackout

Ayoola Kelechi • 17:22 - 15.01.2024

Defending champions Senegal sent a strong warning to Nigeria and other AFCON contenders with a comfortable win over Gambia

The Teranga Lions of Senegal opened their AFCON 2023 account with a sensational 3-0 win over Gambia to get their title defence off to the perfect start.

A brace from Lamine Camara and another goal from Pape Gueye were enough to give Senegal a comfortable win and send them to the top of the competition’s proverbial group of death.

How it happened

The defending champions were determined to stamp their authority on the match early on and opened the scoring after only nine minutes as Pape Gueye found the back of the net with a low drive into the bottom corner to set the tone for the rest of the match.

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Senegal continued to press on in search of more goals after the opener and came close to scoring on several occasions.

The Senegalese efforts were helped by Gambia going down to 10 men just before the break after Ebou Adams was shown a straight red card for violent conduct.

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Following the red card, the match ceased to be a contest, and Senegal strolled through much of the second half.

Camara doubled the Teranga Lions’ lead just after the half-time interval and doubled his own tally for the day late on with a goal of the tournament contender.

The Metz midfielder received the ball on the edge of the area and curled an unstoppable effort into the top corner to seal a comfortable win for Senegal.

Up next for the Teranga Lions is a difficult match against fellow bigwigs, Cameroon, who will also play their opening match of the tournament today against Guinea. 

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Tags:
Senegal Gambia Africa Cup of Nations AFCON 2023