The Teranga Lions took control of the contest early, with Abdoulaye Seck opening the scoring before Habib Diallo doubled the advantage to give the West Africans a comfortable 2–0 lead. Senegal’s dominance was briefly checked when captain Kalidou Koulibaly was shown a straight red card, reducing his side to 10 men.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Senegal remained firmly in control and went on to score a third goal through Cherif Ndiaye, underlining their superiority and sealing an emphatic win to close out the group stage.
The result confirmed Senegal as group winners, setting up a knockout clash against either Burkina Faso or Sudan in the Round of 16.
In the same group, the Democratic Republic of Congo also recorded a convincing 3–0 win over Botswana. However, DRC finished second behind Senegal and will now face Algeria in a high-profile Round of 16 encounter, with a place in the quarter-finals at stake.
Elsewhere, additional knockout fixtures have been confirmed, including Tunisia versus Mali and Egypt against Benin Republic. Other nations already through to the last 16 include South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria.
With the group stage drawing to a close, attention now shifts to the knockout rounds, where Africa’s top sides will battle for a place in the latter stages of the tournament.