Congo-Brazzaville’s Young Red Devils secured a valuable 2-2 draw against Senegal in the 2019 Africa U20 Cup of Nations qualifier in Dakar on Friday night.
The Young Red Devils got off to a positive start as they controlled possession stakes and dictated flow of the game.
Senegal created their first scoring opportunity as early as the fourth minute when a cross was cleverly delivered into the Congo’s box, but Lopy Dione shot just wide of the target from 14-yards out.
The Young Red Devils started dominating the game with Hernest Malonga and Ronald Olouli controlling middle of the park.
The Congo dominance paid off in the opening minutes of the first half as Prestige Bongou scored the opener in the 6th minute to break the deadlock for the visitors.
Bongou proved to be a real threat for the Senegalese defence and should have added the second in the 20th minute when he broke through on goal, but he was denied in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Dialy Coulibaly.
The Young Teranga Lions fought hard and restored parity on 25th minute through Sagna Amadou.
From that point, the two teams started struggling to create clear cut chances and the two goalkeepers were not seriously tested.
The score was 1-1 at the interval following a tightly contested first-half.
Senegal definitely started the second half a lot more positively and came close to scoring three minutes in the stanza when Mendy Formosa got in behind the Congo defence, but he was thwarted by Chancy Danga.
Formasa had another great scoring shot for the Young Lions of Teranga in the 50th minute when he broke into the box from the right, but Ndinag Perrauld was on hand yet again for Congo to stop him from close range.
Youssouph Badji scored in the 65th minute to set-up a tense final 25 minutes, which ended in disappointment for the home side, who relinquished their lead to Borel Tomandzoto with ten minutes to the end.
Senegal threw players forward in search of a winner but they could not find the back of the net as the game ended 2-2.
Congo will host the second leg this coming weekend in Brazzaville with the winner over the two fixtures to advance to the championship in Niger next year.
Teams:
Senegal: Kobaly Dialy, Souleymane Cisse ,Mendy Formosa, Moustqpha Mamadou, Tidiane Cheick, Lopy Dione ,Diack Lamine, Osseynou Niang, Sagna Amadou, Lamine Mamadou, Mamadou Youssouph
Congo: Ndinag Perrauld, Danaga Chancy, Mouandza Kevin, Malonga Hernest, Ngakosso Alves, Ossete Itali, Tomandzoto Borel, Etou Mban, Mboungou Prestige, Makouana Benny, Okouri Roland
