Senegalese class to shine through

Tunisia have not reached an AFCON semi-final since 2004 but, somehow, have made it to the last four even though they have failed to win four of their five games at these finals. Will they have enough to beat a skilful Senegal? Have a read of our preview here:

Tunisia defying logic

To reach a semi-final you’d think you’d need a team capable of winning games. This sounds so obvious but it is, in fact, wrong. Tunisia have drawn four of their five games at the AFCON so far yet still find themselves in the last four. It really does defy normal footballing logic.

In the group stages, they managed to score just twice in their three games with the matches against Angola and Mali finishing 1-1 followed by a disappointing 0-0 against Mauritania.

The knockout stage would see them needing penalties to get passed Ghana even though they were out-shot 23 to 12 and then they faced Madagascar in the quarter-finals.

The undoubted heroes at these finals, whose famous win over Nigeria in the group stages will be celebrated for years to come, finally ran out of gas in Cairo and succumbed to a 3-0 defeat.

Credit to Tunisia for finally finding their scoring touch but the Senegalese will be a different ball game entirely, both literally and figuratively.

He’s the Mané

When you think of the Senegal national team you automatically think of Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly. They are the outstanding players that have such a huge impact at their respective ends of the pitch and that has been the case at the 2019 AFCON.

Mane bagged a brace in the convincing 3-0 win over Kenya and then netted the winner in the win against Uganda. He will need to be at this best against a stubborn Tunisian side.

Koulibaly has also been immense as the Lions of Teranga have kept four clean-sheets in their five games and only conceded once at these finals, a 1-0 group stage defeat to an Algerian side that have also made the last four.

You can see them having plenty of the ball against the Tunisians but it will be interesting to see if they can break down a side prepared to sit deep and try and counter.

Senegal v Tunisia betting tip

Although Tunisia are very good at defending and have been disciplined in their five games so far they face a real challenge against Senegal. They could frustrate their opponents for long periods but with the quality at their disposal backing Senegal to win at odds of 11/10 is the sensible approach to take with this one.

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