Senegal booked their place in the AFCON 2025 semi-finals with a tense 1-0 victory over Mali on Friday night at the Tangier Grand Stadium in Morocco. It was not pretty, but it was effective. Iliman Ndiaye's first-half strike proved decisive as the reigning champions became the first team into the last four, extending their impressive tournament consistency.
Mali, who had already made headlines for reaching the quarter-finals without a single win , as highlighted by SoftFootball earlier in the competition, once again showed resilience but fell just short. The winning goal arrived in the 27th minute and came from sustained pressure.
Krepin Diatta's cross was poorly handled by Mali goalkeeper Djigui Diarra, and Ndiaye reacted quickest to tap home from close range. Senegal looked capable of adding more, but Diarra recovered well, later producing a string of saves that kept Mali alive.
