Match Day LIVE
Afcon Finals
Senegal vs Morocco .
Venue – Prince Moulay Abduleh stadium , Rabat .
Date – January 18, 2026 .
Time -7 pm
The Battle of the Two Lions , African Cup of Nations Finals , (Lions of Teranga of Senegal and Atlas Lions of Morocco).
For over three weeks now , the world have been glued to their television sets especially in the African continent to watch or capture a glimpse of the on the on going Afcon matches .
It has been full of thrills and turns with near or major upsets in all spheres of the round leather game , right from the preliminary rounds to round of 16 matches , up to the finals today , many of the participating teams have either has luck on their side or have had themselves to blame with very costly mistakes .
After a very long time of not reaching the finals of the African Cup of Nations since 2004 they last got to he finals , the Atlas Lions of Morocco , tournament hosts is just a win away from ending the Nations drought of 50 years wait of winning the trophy .
For them to win this Sunday , standing in their way to victory is the Teranga Lions of Senegal who have appeared for the tthird time in the Cup final in the last four editions , the Lions of Teranga are aiming for their second title after winning three 2021 edition in Cameroon.
With their home support throughout this tournament , the Atlas Lions of Morocco are one more triumph away from Continental immortality ,
The Moroccans struggled at the initial stage through thick and tin to overcome their opponents from the group games up to the final where they dismissed the Super Eagles of Nigeira via a penalty shout-out after a goalless 90 minutes and extra time could not produce a winner and won 4-2 .
Their home support who were initially not convinced and could not engage very well to support them , as they struggled to beat minnows , Comoros Island with two second half goals got at such a great cost via sheer determination , but the tides changed later as the tournament progressed .
That’s now history as the Lions will not deny the partisan support they got in this tournament especially during the knockout stages , either they win today or not .
Their partisan support will not be over looked with their semi final victory which they got via penalties ,against Nigeria after full and extra time could not decide a winner , coupled with some questionable refereeing decisions during the open play which could have made Nigeira to over come them during the normal play of 90+ minutes , but CAF referees gave them a Lee way that took the semis into penalty shootout , as we all know anything can happen during penalties , best footballers have lost spot kicks and the question of luck will also come into play , then thanks to Bono the Moroccan keeper who stopped Samuel Chukwueze and Bruno Onyemachi s spot kicks that improved his performance in spot kicks in the tournament .
We will wonder if the CAF referees do not officiate matches in FIFA World zCups matches ,with the way they handled proceeding in this Afcon to decide a winner in the long run…
Bono , the hero of the day who stopped two Nigeira spot kicks to improve his rating in the tournament and beyond as he did same during the 2022 World Cup against Spain and now against Nigeria , though the goal tender benefitred a water tight and well secured rear guard during this tournament as rhe Atlas Lions of Morocco conceded only one goal via a penalty against Mali and did not concede any in normal play since the beginning of this years Afcon that’s a impressive record for them.
The hosts have allowed only five shots on target out of six throughout the tournament , with only two in their eighteen yard box , keeping five shootouts en route to this game , shows how stoutly built their defence is in this tournament .
It will be very interesting to see how the Teranga Lions of Senegal will break this high profile defensive network of the Atlas Lions en route to their second African title .
Similar to the Super Eagles of Nigeria who are were highest goal scorers in the tournament with 14 goals , the Teranga Lions have scored in every match prior to the finals today , so can they break the jinx and score against the Moroccans ????
While the Atlas Lions rear guard doniantes headlines in this Afcon , the Senegalese also have one of the best attacks in the Afcon 2025 , conceding fewer goals and more clean sheets during the open play, underlyijg their sturdy steel in defence , which the Moroccan should not take for granted at all.
The Teranga Lions attacking prowess being master minded by Sadio Mane who scored the 20th goal of the finals since 2017 in this soon to be completed tournament with a lone goal against Egypt in the semi finals . Mane s 78th minute goal was the highlight of an uneventful and uninteresting semi finals , where the Pharaohs did not live up to their pre- match billing , all the same , the Moroccans compaxt defence so far will prove a point and also make the final tonight a very interesting one .
Suspensions are likely to be a set back to the Teranga Lions , tonight when they face a compact Moroccan side , with the suspension of Kailoudo Kouilibaly who also missed the finals of the 2019 edition due to suspension , what a way for history to repeat itself ., In his place Mamadoub Sarr will deputise for him in the heart of the defence , missing through suspension is Habib Diarre , this means former Chelsea striker , Nicholas Jackson will take his position .supported by Mane and Illmani Ndiaye who will get the nod ahead of Ismailla Sarr .
Mane and Jackson are the greatest contributors to Senegal’s 12 goals so far in this tournament .with Mane five and Jackson three , the duo will like to keep their attacking prowess alive in this finals for the Teranga Lions .
Absentees in this tournament , Azzedine Qunahi and Roman Saiss are all out due to injury problems , Roman Saisi got an early minute injury in their first match against Comorors Island that kept him out of the remaining matches for Morocco .
That means Walid Regradui will shift his focus to Nayef Aguared and Adam Masina in the heat of the defence for Morocco .
Achraf Hakimi s goal contribution in this tournament was against Tanzania , but he as not put any foot wrong in his three start s in this tournament z hence he is going to retain his position in the backline this evening .
While Real Madrid Star , Brahim Diaz have score in all the matches they played before they met Nigeria where he could not score , all the same he is going to start in today’s match as the top striker .
Ayoub El Kaa bi who scored last against Zambia , is going to start ahead of En Nesri who scored the winning penalty goal against Nigeria .
Predictions .
The Atlas Lions resolute defence will defintitly be to their own advantage when they meet the Teranga Lions , though Mane will try to outsmart their rear men , but their stout home support who have guided them like a rudder throughout this tournament will be an awakening call to them as they hope to end their 50 years watiing to lift the coveted African Cup of Nations trophy for the first time .
They are likely to go through with at least one goal for the cup , though we may experience another penalty shootout after full and extra time fails to produce a goal .
Senegal 1-1 Morocco Or 0-0 , 0-1 .
Happy Viewing and Happy African Cup of Nations Final in Morocco .
Uche Anaba .
Uchefreetips 2025 (C).
Email -ucheanaba@gmail.com
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Good one