Senegal defeated Egypt on penalties in Sunday's Africa Cup of Nations final, bringing the 33rd edition of the biennial continental competition to a dramatic close as the Teranga Lions earned their first-ever African title.

Sadio Mane, the Tournament's Player of the Tournament, was the hero, overcoming a fourth-minute penalty miss to score the deciding headed goal in the shootout following a 0-0 stalemate in which the West Africans had the best of the chances.

Sadio Mane, the Tournament's Player of the Tournament, was the hero, overcoming a 4th penalty miss to score the deciding headed goal in the shoot following a 0-0 stalemate under which the West Africans would have the best of the chances.

The Teranga Lions were the continent's 15th different side to triumph, thus putting an end to 20 years of agony since the nation's best side — the team that achieved the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals — fell well short over Cameroon in the Concacaf final earlier that year.

The game was decided on penalties then, as it is now, and while Aliou Cisse missed the critical spot-kick in the final shootout that Bamako 20 years ago, he was undoubtedly the happiest person in the Stade d'Olembe, having become Senegal's first AFCON-winning new coach.

It's certainly long overdue for a man who understands triumph and disaster – those two most untrustworthy of imposters – more intimately than he'd like.

As Cisse mentioned previously this week, it's hard to talk about African football and the country's entire biggest sides without mentioning Senegal, even though, with CAF's other big dogs, they'd never previously won the AFCON title.

They've had African Soccer player of the Year winners, Premier League, and Champions League winners, but is one of only three African countries to even have entered the World Cup finals, but the Fiba crown had always escaped them until Sunday evening.

"I dedicate this [win] to the folks of Senegal," Cisse said after the game to ESPN. "From independence until the present, we have never had a star on our shirt... and now we have the first one."

They were the first team in the 2019 Africa cup of nations record to have won two finals without winning one, and a third defeat at the last hurdle would have undoubtedly marked a massive mental hurdle for a better future to surmount. You can visit www.sepakbolapialadunia.com to get all ball prediction, scoring and football news at any time. 

Instead, Sunday's victory was the result of Cisse and his staff's enormous and consistent work in the nearly seven years since they took over the Lions, who were then ranked below the top 60 in the FIFA overall standings.

Back in 2015, the glory days of 2002 had faded, but ever since, the old boyfriend City and Hampshire midfielder have hauled Senegal back into the top 20, taken them to the World Cup (in 2018), and helped them reach consecutive Nations Champions league – the first team to do so since Egypt in 2010.

Despite his assurances of confidence and unwavering belief in his team's eventual success in the lead-up to Sunday's game, his outpourings of emotion at the final whistle – where he did appear set of constraints as he was held by 2002 teammate Khalilou Fadiga – suggested that he could only truly put the spirits of perceived errors to rest when he finally set his sights on the trophy.

"We know our days of failure, sorrow, and tough moments," he told ESPN earlier in the tournament, recalling both his own failed penalty kick in the 2002 final or the 2019 club's defeat by Tunisia in Cairo two and a half years ago.

"The two finals were extremely different meetings," he stated following his victory on Sunday. "I had never really sat down in 2019 and we'd agreed." We were hunting the score when the scene shifted.

"It was different in ways here. I knew we'd win, whether it was in 90 minutes, extra time, or penalties.

"Winning was the most important thing, and I never doubted it." "I had trust in the team, which endured and persevered."

Senegal, on the other hand, transformed from great pretenders to genuine contenders throughout this tournament, flowering after a sluggish collective display to net eight goals in their three knockout encounters before Sunday.

History has been written, and although Senegal's triumph will not completely eclipse the generation of 2002 — Diao, Diouf, and Bouba Diop — for about their innovative productions, that triumph over France, their character and vitality, they have certainly provided their country with the kind of success stories that makes up for two decades of regret and days of failure.