Senegal Avoid Upset as Atlas Lions Leave it Late to Break Ghanaians' Hearts

The 33rd edition of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) is up and running with 6 matches already played, having an average of 1.3 goals per game. However, truth be told, 3 of the goals were scored in the opening match of the tournament, with the other 5 being shared equally in 5 subsequent matches.

Cameroonian, Vincent Aboubakar who netted a brace in his first outing with the _Indomitable Lions_ is the early pacesetter for the tournament's golden boot.

To the matches of yesterday, Senegal having won 4 of their 6 qualifying matches in the qualifiers, en route this year's tournament in Cameroon would have been expecting an easy game against less fancied Zimbabweans. The 2019 runner ups were made to dig deep however, as they needed a VAR intervention to be awarded a last minute penalty in added time. Liverpool's keeper and Captain, Sadio Mané was calm enough to slot it into the net. Considering the quality the _Teranga Lions_ possessed; despite the victory, it was more about smiles of relief of job done than job well done for the West Africans; their East African opponents however, will feel outdone by what seemed to be a controversial hand ball in the penalty area, awarded against them, two minutes from regulation time.

In the second game of the day; North Africans, Morrocco squared up against 4-time champions, Ghana. The black stars despite not being analyst's favourites for the tournament to be hoping they can go all out and end a 40 year run without lifting the trophy. It was a rather disappointing outing for the Ghanaians though, and just when they thought they are done enough to steal a point off the _Atlas Lions_ , Sofiane Boufal of Morrocco pounced on a loose ball in the penalty box; and turning swifty as a fox, fired home for a win 7 minutes from time. It was only his second international goal for Morrocco, and his first in international competitions. Despite the Ghanaians, having paraded arsenal midfielder Thomas Parter and started with the _Ayew Brothers_, Jordan and Andre upfront in a 4-4-2 formation. They were deserved losers on the night, as they offered little to no attacking threats to warrant a goal.

In the other games of the day, Gabon edged debutants Comoros 1:0, despite missing Aubameyang, and influential midfielder, Lemina due to COVID. Guinea also pipped Malawi 1:0.