Senegal stay perfect as AFCON hosts Nigeria fall to Ivory Coast on penalties.
Senegal became the first team to qualify for the CAF Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals as they saw off defending champions Madagascar 3-1 on Wednesday.
Three-time winners Senegal were beaten in the final by Madagascar last year but a hat-trick from yesterday’s two-goal hero Fall did the damage as they ensured themselves a top-two spot in Group B.
Madagascar will hope to join them and have a winner-takes-all clash against Morocco on Thursday – the North Africans having kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup with a 9-3 win over Libya.
After defeat in their CAF Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations opener against Senegal, Morocco battled back from behind twice early on as a Nassim treble helped claim their opening points.
In arguably the game of the day, Ivory Coast made it two wins from two at the competition but required penalties to see off Nigeria after the sides ended extra time at 4-4.
In a thrilling match-up, both sides had the chance to ensure their semi-final spot, with Ivory Coast leading 3-2 going into the final eight minutes until Abu and Tale thought they had secured victory with seconds left.
However, after Aka equalised again from the spot, the game went to penalties where Ivory Coast proved faultless to win the shootout 3-1.
Earlier, a brace from the impressive Mohamed helped Egypt edge a nine-goal thriller 5-4 against Ghana in a finely-poised Group A.
In an epic to-and-fro contest between two sides who both lost their opening matches in Lagos, Egypt led 2-0 early on but were reeled in and looked set for extra time against a gutsy Ghana team.
And, having already registered one impressive overhead kick, Mohamed popped up with another one in the final seconds to clinch their first points of the competition.
Match results – Wednesday, 14th December 2016
16:15 – Libya 3-9 Morocco
17:30 – Egypt 5-4 Ghana
18:45 – Senegal 3-1 Madagascar
20:00 – Ivory Coast (3) 4-4 (1) Nigeria
Fixtures – Thursday, 15th December 2016
16.15 – Libya v Senegal
17.30 – Egypt v Ivory Coast
18.45 – Madagascar v Morocco
20.00 – Nigeria v Ghana
