The final of AFCON 2025 on Sunday, January 18th pits the hosts Morocco, who were favored at the start of the tournament, against an inspired Senegal side led by Sadio Mane, who has stated this will be his final AFCON. The stakes are high, and the matchup is set, will Morocco continue to dominate African football, or can Senegal spring an upset?
Morocco vs Senegal
Morocco managed to find a way to suffocate Nigeria’s offensive prowess in the semifinal. The Super Eagles attack was limited to just 2 shots total, and an xG of 0.08, in a game that was a defensive struggle. Morocco also failed to score in 120 minutes, and it was the penalty shootout that settled the semifinal between the two famous footballing nations as Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui and PSG’s Achraf Hakimi were standouts. The defensive prowess of Morocco isn’t a one off, they have won every AFCON game without conceding a goal, and only Mali has scored against them, a group stage game that was settled as a 1-1 draw. Tanzania and Cameroon in previous rounds had 4, and 5 shots respectively in the match, and Nigeria fared even worse despite having Victor Osimhen and friends up front.
Sadio Mane The Match Winner
Sadio Mane was the match winner when Senegal clipped Egypt’s wings 1-0 in the other semifinal. Egypt was again on the backfoot all match, and finally Senegal broke through on 63% possession and 12 shots compared to just 3 for Mohamed Salah and Egypt. Ahead of the World Cup, Egypt have looked poor against quality opposition, while Senegal are in-form, going without defeat this AFCON tournament.
Morocco’s Defensive Prowess
While Senegal are playing an inspiring football, and Mane, with 20 goal contributions in AFCON, a tournament record, is a talented and dangerous player, Morocco are clear favorites in the final. Their defensive prowess, and tournament experience make them hard to break down. While Brahim Diaz has served as the main, and sometimes only attacking threat. It’s possible we could see a final decided by penalties, and a lack of goals is probably a given, but Senegal will need to play their best football to pull an upset.
Prediction: Morocco 1 Senegal 0
Main Photo Credit Imago Images copyright: xLatinxSportxImagesx
