When was the last time the two best African players on the planet collided in the Africa Cup of Nations final?
A case could be made, perhaps, for 2002, when El Hadji Diouf—reigning African Footballer of the Year—met Cameroon and a young Samuel Eto’o, who would win the award in 2003.
Maybe 1980? When Segun Odegbami went toe to toe with Lakhdar Belloumi, although the likes of Thomas N’Kono and Jean Manga-Onguene would have something to say about that.
Heading into the semi-finals here in Cameroon, however, a match between Africa’s top two is still firmly on the cards, with Senegal and Sadio Mane, and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah still very much on the cards.
Some may argue that Riyad Mahrez has eclipsed Mane in recent years, and perhaps at times that’s been true, but as the reigning African Footballer of the Year, and with eight goals in the Premier League so far this season, the Senegal forward can still stake a strong claim to being second only to Salah in the current hierarchy of continental greats.
Certainly, while Mahrez offered precious little before limping out of the competition in the group stage—missing a decisive penalty as Algeria were dumped out by the Ivory Coast—Mane is growing into the competition.
He has netted twice and registered one assist so far, bagging in the narrow 1-0 victory over Zimbabwe to kick off Senegal’s campaign, before registering against Cape Verde in the Round of 16 only moments after sustaining a head injury.
His and Senegal’s ascent to the final four has come as little surprise.
Getty ImagesWhile Ivory Coast, Algeria, Ghana and Nigeria have fallen by the wayside, Senegal have overcome every obstacle put in their path so far, even though it hasn’t been pretty.
They negotiated their group stage without conceding a goal, but won just once—that 97th-minute winner against Zimbabwe—and were duly held 0-0 by both Guinea and Malawi.
They similarly struggled to ignite against Cape Verde in the Second Round, before Mane broke the deadlock and Bamba Dieng finished off the contest later in the second half.
Against Equatorial Guinea in the quarter-final, they may have conceded—and could have conceded more—but offensively, they started to tick, with the late arrival of Ismaila Sarr from Watford opening up the opposition defence as the Teranga Lions ran out 3-1 winners.
During the group stage, two early kick-offs—they twice played in the sapping heat of 14h—could explain their sluggish start, and their improved performances in the knockouts give the whiff of champions.
BackpagepixDespite conceding, a defensive containing the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy, Bouna Sarr and Abdou Diallo is the strongest in the tournament, while the arrival of Sarr can open up Mane and give the Teranga Lions an extra dimension in attack.
Senegal are certainly favourites to overcome Burkina Faso, fuelled by a desire to put a smile on the face of their embattled population back home, when the pair meet in Wednesday’s semi-final at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde.
So, that would put Sadio Mane through to Sunday’s final at the Stade d’Olembe…but will it be Mohamed Salah who joins him from the other half of the draw?
Egypt, unlike Senegal, weren’t consistently tipped for a strong showing in Cameroon ahead of the tournament, and fears that a lack of midfield creativity might limit them were realised during a stodgy group-stage showing and, particularly, their opening loss to Nigeria.
While the Super Eagles were ultimately dumped out at the first sign of trouble, however, the Pharaohs rode out the storm and have progressed to the final four, while enduring the hardest knockout run of any of the sides still standing.
Getty ImagesWhile their semi-final opponents Cameroon had to dispatch minnows Comoros and Gambia, Egypt had to last the full 120 minutes against both Ivory Coast and Morocco before seeing off the former on penalties and their North African rivals thanks to Trezeguet’s extra-time goal.
It doesn’t quite make them favourites—Cameroon have momentum behind them, the fuel of home support, and a plethora of attackers in hot form—but it demonstrates that Egypt, Africa’s masters of finding a way to win, have the kind of resourcefulness that few in the continent can match.
Salah, like Mane, has sparkled intermittently at the tournament—and made some big contributions—without truly dominating games consistently.
He generates more excitement among local supporters—at least until he’s due to come up against the hosts on Thursday—and both of the Liverpool stars have scored two and registered one assist so far this campaign.
Salah just edges it, with his performance against Morocco—scoring the equaliser and then setting up Trezeguet’s winner—the kind of superstar showing that underpins his standing as Africa’s top player in the planet today.
Both have lost in the final before, Mane in 2019 and Salah two years before, and both are clearly desperate to right the wrongs of Afcons gone by.
The only question is: will they have to go through each other to do it?