Man of the Match Iliman Ndiaye praised Senegal’s steady progress after their hard-fought victory over Mali sealed a place in the semi-finals.
“I am happy to win this award, but the most important thing is that we have qualified for the semi-finals,” Ndiaye said. “We played very well today and it shows that we are improving with every match. I am confident that my teammates and I will stay focused on the next game, perform at our best level and deliver for our fans.”
Despite defeat, Mali head coach Tom Saintfiet was full of pride in his players, who spent long periods of the match with ten men.
“It was an interesting and difficult match for us because we had to play large parts of the game with ten players,” Saintfiet said. “But that does not take away from the fact that my players were gallant and performed very well.
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“I am proud of them, not only for today’s match but for the entire competition. We have shown the world what we are made of. Together with my staff, we will analyse our games and see how we can improve in the future.”
Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw admitted his side were pushed hard by Mali but insisted the primary objective had been achieved.
“It was not an easy match because we faced a very talented Mali team,” Thiaw said. “They have strong qualities and created many problems for us. If we had been more clinical in front of goal, we could have scored more.
“However, the most important thing today is that we have qualified for the semi-finals. We will review our mistakes and work to correct them in the next matches. We hope to be more efficient in front of goal and have a bit more luck going forward.”
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