Madagascar 0-3 Tunisia
When the dream finally ended there was a certain inevitability.
Yet that didn’t ease the sadness you felt for a nation which has lit up the Africa Cup of Nations and provided AFCON with its most popular yet unlikely success story.
It has been an uplifting experience to date, drawing against Guinea and beating Burundi and Nigeria to top Group B before dramatically despatching Congo in the last 16.
However, the magical run is now over.
It is Tunisia, who had drawn all their matches in normal time in the competition so far, who will meet Senegal in the semi-finals.
Highlights of the game
SBOBET fans watching will immediately be able to point to the decisive moments in the game early in the second half: the Africa Cup of Nations 2019 highlights which determined the fate of one nation and ended the dream of another in what to then, had been an even encounter.
Two minutes after the restart, Madagascar were still allowed to dream.
Wahbi Khazri took down a long pass and stabbed the ball home but Tunisian celebrations were cut short when, after initially appearing to allow the goal,the official eventually decided to consult VAR which revealed Khazri was a couple of yards offside.
If the luck had slightly been with the underdogs, it was anything but four minutes later.
In fact, it was awful misfortune for Madagascar as a tame shot from the edge of the area by Ferjani Sassi took a huge deflection off Thomas Fontaine’s backside and spun past the nonplussed keeper Melvin Adrien.
Eight minutes later and captain Youssef Msakni doubled the advantage and effectively ended the contest.
Adrien parried an 18-yard shot from Khazri but Msakni pounced on the rebound, slid past a marker, and placed the ball calmly in the bottom corner.
The coup de grace was applied in stoppage time as Tunisia countered following a Madagascar corner and Khazri drew the last defender before slipping in Naim Sliti, who dinked the ball past Adrien.
It had seemed much closer during the opening 45 minutes when Tunisia edged a keenly-contested first half but were unable to make the pressure count. St-Etienne’s Khazri came closest to breaking the deadlock with a curling 32nd-minute free-kick which Adrien clawed away, and the Malagasy keeper had to get down well to turn away Ghaylen Chaaleli’s well-struck effort 10 minutes later.
In the end, the gap was too wide.
Alain Giresse’s men may have needed a stroke of luck to break the deadlock but there was no doubt they were the better side as they deservedly progressed to a semi-final showdown with Senegal.
Madagascar’s glorious run reaches an emphatic end, but let’s just reflect on the Indian Ocean island side, ranked 108th in the world.
Not only have they provided the story of their debut tournament, they had to start AFCON qualifying in the preliminary round in March 2017.
Their squad contains players who play in Reunion, the French lower leagues and Thailand. Their head coach, Nicolas Dupuis, also manages French fourth-tier Fleury.
To a man, they return home as heroes.
Key statistics
This was Tunisia’s first win in normal time in five matches in the competition. They drew all their group games and drew their last 16 tie with Ghana before winning in a penalty shoot-out.
This was the first time the two nations had met at Africa’s biggest football tournament and their first competitive meeting since World Cup, qualifying in 2001 when Tunisia won 2-0.
A total of 15 of the combined 20 goals scored by both these nations during their matches in Egypt have come after half-time.
This was Tunisia’s 11thAFCON quarter-final. They had failed to progress on the previous five occasions before tonight.
Madagascar were the first team to reach the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in their first participation since Cape Verde in 2013.
Because they were ranked among the six worst teams on the continent, Madagascar took part in the very first match of this 2019 Nations Cup campaign – in the preliminary round of qualifying, against Sao Tome e Principe in early 2017.
What’s next?
Look at the Africa Cup of Nations 2019 betting odds ahead of the doubleheader semi-final. Senegal will start as favourites when they meet Tunisia in the June 30 Stadium in Cairo.
Madagascar are next in action at the end of the monthwhen they host Mozambique in the first leg of their second round tie of the Africa Nations Championship.
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