Defending champions Senegal are through to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations round of sixteen after edging Cameroon 3-1 at the Charles Konan Banny stadium in Yamoussoukro on Friday night.The Lions of Teranga kicked off their title defense with a convincing 3-0 win over The Gambia and needed to beat Cameroon to book a place in the knockout stage with a game to spare.##NAJAVA_MECA_7811988##That is exactly what they did in a fully-packed stadium, dismissing Cameroon with ease to become the second team to advance after Cape Verde.Ismailla Sarr gave Senegal the lead in the 16th minute firing home a loose ball that took slight deflection to the bottom left corner.AFCON 2023: Cape Verde books slot in round of sixteen following win over MozambiqueSarr who was at the right place at the right time picked a ball that had been palmed away by Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana before firing the ball that deflected from the custodian’s vision.The Marseille forward who has contributed to four of Senegal’s seven goals at AFCON was named man of the match for being on the score sheet and creating the second goal.Cameroon appeared to be matching Senegal on all fronts despite trailing but their inability to defend well saw Habib Diallo double the lead in the 71st minute.The closing stages of the game were nervous for Senegalese fans after Jean-Charles Castelleto pulled one back for Cameroon in the 83rd minute with a bullet header.Cameroon camped at Senegal’s box in search of the second and could have restored parity through Kevin-Georges Nkoudou who missed a glorious chance after Castelletto picked him with a well-weighted cross.The former champions were made to rue the missed chance as Sadio Mane netted moments later to settle the contest and to open his goal account in the 2023 edition.Amrouche talks himself into trouble as CAF hands him eight-game banThe defeat leaves the Indomitable Lions on shaky ground as they played Guinea to a 1-1 draw in their opening game on Monday.For the 2017 champions to join Senegal in the knockout stage, they will have to beat The Gambia in the final game in a convincing way.At the same time, Rigobert Song and his troops will hope that Guinea and The Gambia will labour for a draw of any kind in the final game of the day.AFCON 2023- GROUP STAGERound 2ThursdayEquatorial Guinea – Guinea Bissau 4-2 (1-1)/Nsue 21, 51, 61, Miranda 46 – Orosco 37, Ze Turbo 90+3/Ivory Coast – Nigeria 0-1 (0-0)/Troost-Ekong 54 pen/Egypt – Ghana 2-2 (0-1)/Marmoush 69, M. Mohamed 74 – Kudus 45+3, 71/Friday ResultsCape Verde 3 Mozambique 0Bebe 32, Ryan Mendes 51, Kevin Pina 69Senegal 3 Cameroon 1Ismailla Sarr 16, Habib Diallo 71, Sadio Mane 90+5/ Jean-Charles Castelletto 83Friday Fixtures23:00: (2.15) Guinea (3.15) Gambia (3.70)
