AFCON-20 AFCON U20: Tunisia Books Semi finals Ticket In Dramatic Penalty Shootout

At the TotalEnergies U20 Africa Cup of Nations on Friday, Tunisia advanced to the semi-finals with a thrilling 5-4 victory over Congo in a penalty shootout following extra time.

Following a thrilling 3-3 tie in regulation, the Tunisian Young Carthage Eagles defeated the Congo on penalties to go to the round of four.

Adel Sellimi’s team advanced to the last four and secured a spot in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia later this year thanks to a successful penalty kick by substitute Aziz Abid.

After advancing from the group round, the two sides entered the quarterfinal encounter with a lot of enthusiasm and a strong desire to reach the semi-finals.

Read Also:AFCON U20: Gambia Thrash South Sudan 5-0 To reach Semi finals

At the Cairo International Stadium, Déogracias Bassinga’s goal on minute 24 gave the Red Devils of Congo the lead.

Exaucé Nzahou made a deft cut back into the area, which the forward wisely converted to give Marie Joseph Madienguela’s squad the lead.

Jibril Othman of Saint Etienne scored a goal seven minutes before halftime to give Tunisia the lead back.

The talented attacker outran his defender and skillfully flicked Rayan Nasraoui’s perfect pass into the Congo box.

As halftime approached, both teams’ efforts to score the following goal were canceled out by one another.

On the 76th minute, Samy Chouchane’s low shot from the edge of the box beyond Makoundou gave the Young Carthage Eagles the lead and made the score 2-1.

The game lived up to its promise when, ten minutes into regulation, Congo’s great striker Déogracias Bassinga brought the game back into his team’s favor.

To force extra time, Bassinga pounced on Saikou Djigo’s through ball and beat Raed Gazzeh with a strong attempt inside the box.

In the knockout round of the TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system was called into play three times throughout the game.

During an on-field VAR review, the referee correctly denied a goal for either team before awarding Congo a penalty after yet another on-field VAR review.

Congo was awarded a penalty for a handball inside the area, and Déogracias Bassinga finished off his hat trick from the spot. On minute 102, Bassinga successfully converted the penalty kick to regain the lead.

Ali Saoudi’s goal, which defeated the defenseless Maillon Makoundou to tie the game late, allowed the tenacious Tunisian to force a shootout.

The Young Carthage Eagles advanced to the semifinals after Raed Gazzeh saved two penalty kicks from substitutes Belfegor Mindou and Josna Loulendo before Davarel Mouandza missed his own. Tunisia’s Aziz Abid scored the game-winning conversion.

To advance to the TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations final, Tunisia will travel to the Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia to play Senegal.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *