By
Eniola Olatunji 

 
Football Fans going to the International Airport in Rabat Morocco have to be cautious of Zebras crossing into the airport as the Zebras of Botswana were pursued out of the AFCON tournament in Rabat by the Leopards of Democratic Republic of Congo in a 3-0 bashing at the group D final match on Tuesday night.

Nathaniel Mbuku scored the first goal from Gael Kakuta assist in the 31st minute but Kakuta came up with a brace scoring the second goal in the 41st minute from a penalty spot after Ella of DR Congo was brought down in the box and topped it up with another penalty in the 60th minute. 

What would have been the fourth goal scored by Fiston Mayelein the 63rd minute was cancelled by VAR because there was a suspected handball in the build up to scoring the goal. 

In the other group match, ageless Sadio Mane shot blank for the Teranga Lions of Senegal though the team lashed Cheetahs of Benin Republic by 3-0 to complete the six goals thriller of Group D.

Abdoulaye Seck jumped higher than other players to nod in the first goal from a Krepin Dialla Cross in the 38th minute. Sadio Mane playing the Captains game found Habib Dialla who scored the second goal in the 62nd minute.

Benin Republic’s defender Moumini Abdul who tripped a Senegalese attacker in the box got a yellow and for his second yellow in the tournament, he would miss the Round of 16 games if Benin qualifies but the resultant penalty was well taken by the man who came in for Sadio Maneto score the penalty award in the 90+7th minute.

Senegalese defender Kaldou Koulbaly will also miss next match as he was given a straight card for tripping an opponent in the 71st minute.

Senegal won the group with 7 points scoring 7 goals and conceding just a goal; DR Congo also chalked 7 points scoring 5 goals and conceding one goal to place 2nd in the group; Benin placed 3rd with 3 points  scoring just a goal and conceding 4 while Botswana goes home with no point no goal and 7 conceded goals.

I need to report that Benin qualified for the Knockout stages for the second time in their history as the only time the team crossed the group stage was in 2019. Benin got a win over Botswana to get the ticket for play R16 games.

Group stages finish on New Year’s eve when on Wednesday Equatorial Guinea plays already qualified Algeria and Sudan tries the Stallions of Burkina Faso all at 5pm

Then at 8pm when Christians will be moving to various worship Centers all over the world for the Cross Over service, Gabon will play Ivory Coast and Mozambique will face Cameroon.

Senegal will play her R16 games on Saturday 3rd January at 5pm; Mali and Tunisia will meet same day at 8pm; Morocco will play a yet to be known team on Sun 4th January at 5pm while same day at 8pm South Africa will have their game; Egypt will face Benin on Mon 5th January at 5 pm and Nigeria will play an unknown team at 8pm. Algeria versus DR Congo is on Tuesday 6th January at 5pm Group  Other qualifiers will be known when the group matches are conclude tomorrow Wednesday.