Live updates from the Africa Cup of Nations final taking place between Senegal and Egypt in Cameroon.
- Kickoff 8pm (19:00 GMT)
- Egypt looking for record-extending eighth AFCON title
- Senegal have been losing finalists twice (2002, 2019)
Hello and welcome to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.
I’m Faras Ghani and I’ll bring you live updates from the final taking place in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde where we have Oluwashina Okeleji inside Olembe Stadium and Daniel Ekonde among the fans.
Oluwashina chips in with this: “Stadium erupts into a wild applause as Cameroon’s President Paul Biya arrives with his wife.”
Imagine the scenes if the home side was still in the tournament.
[Oluwashina Okeleji/Al Jazeera]
Final The finalists are here 📍# TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 | # AFCON2021 pic.twitter.com/weq7xhWyWy
– # TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 @ (@CAF_Online) February 6, 2022
A history lesson
Here are the past AFCON winners. Egypt, as you can see, are called Pharaohs for a reason.
Oluwashina is seated comfortably inside Olembe Stadium and is, umm, enjoying the view.
“Police, firefighters, naval and airforce officers, the army, Gendarmeries, national guard, and others… they’ve been standing there for three hours,” he says.
Mind you, he had to walk four miles to get to the stadium.
“Closure of roads six hours before kick-off with police lining up the streets,” he adds.
Still more than 90 minutes until kick-off.
[Oluwashina Okeleji/Al Jazeera]
Here’s Daniel among some Senegalese supporters who have gathered outside the embassy in Bastos, Yaounde, as they wait for buses to take them to the stadium.
Seems we will have a decent Senegalese turnout at Olembe Stadium.
[Daniel Ekonde/Al Jazeera]
[Daniel Ekonde/Al Jazeera]
Reading time
While we wait for some action on the field, here is some worthy AFCON reading material for you to dive into:
Prediction time
Right, two hours until kick-off. Who do you think will win? Senegal? Egypt?
Cast your votes now and win bragging rights if nothing else. 👇
The # AFCON2021 final will see one of football’s most exciting attacking duos face off against each other as Egypt’s Mo Salah goes against Senegal’s Sadio Mane.
Who are you supporting? 👇
– Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 6, 2022
Head-to-head
Egypt and Senegal have met on 12 occasions with the Pharaohs winning six of them, the last victory coming nearly 16 years ago to the day.
Route to the final
Neither side came out all guns blazing at the start of the tournament.
Egypt managed just two goals in their three group matches, edging out Guinea-Bissau and Sudan with 1-0 scorelines after losing their tournament opener 1-0 to Nigeria.
Senegal had two stalemates against Guinea and Malawi that followed a 1-0 win over Zimbabwe in the opener.
But both sides picked up pace from there on.
What you need to know about the AFCON final
Egypt will be looking for a record-extending eighth AFCON title. Senegal will be looking to go one better after losing the 2019 final to Algeria.
The final will also see one of world football’s most exciting attacking duos facing off against each other as Mohamed Salah leads Egypt against a Senegal side spearheaded by Sadio Mane.
The match is being played at Yaounde’s Olembe Stadium, where eight people were killed in a crush on January 25 – a tragedy that has overshadowed the tournament in Cameroon.
Here’s what you need to know about the final.