January 27, (THEWILL) – Falaye Sacko’s missed penalty kick was the final straw that Equatorial Guinea needed to advance to the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals as it helped them knock Mali out of the tournament via a 6-5 penalty shootout.
After a goalless 120 minutes at Limbe Stadium on Wednesday, spot-kicks were necessary to decide a terrible round-of-16 match, and Sacko’s feeble strike was comfortably saved by Jesus Owono to wild celebrations from the Equatorial Guineans.
Late in a dull first half, Mali was awarded a penalty after Josete Miranda was ruled to have bundled Moussa Doumbia over, but referee Bakary Gassama overturned his judgement after consulting the pitchside monitor.
Yves Bissouma set up Mohamed Camara and the latter should have put the Eagles ahead after the break, but his shot towards goal flew high over the crossbar from 12 yards out.
Despite Equatorial Guinea’s aggressive performance towards the end of regulation time, the two teams could not be separated after 90 minutes, and it was more of the same in extra-time.
In the penalty shootout that followed, Mali’s Massadio Haidara and Hamari Traore failed to convert and Pablo Ganet had a chance to win it for the underdogs but Ibrahim Mounkoro stopped him from 12 yards.
It was left for Sacko’s mistake to seal for the Equatorial Guineans an encounter with Senegal in the final eight on Sunday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
