JAKARTA- The people of Senegal have poured in to celebrate the success of their football team in winning the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. This is the first time the West African nation has won this tournament after decades of almost winning it.
Cheers, car horns and fireworks greeted the final whistle in the nation's capital Dakar.
That hard-won victory in the shootout instantly erased Senegal's reputation as one of the unsuccessful African football nations in this tournament.
Thousands of people took to the streets. People waved flags from the roofs of speeding cars. The audience hugged and cried. People ran to a beach on the northern outskirts shouting loudly at night.
"Senegal have missed out on a trophy so many times in finals. It's a relief. Finally, we got it!" said Pape Malick Diba, a 31-year-old trader who danced with his friends in a fanzone in Dakar where fans flocked to watch the match live on a big screen.
It's a rare sight to see Senegalese football fans pouring in together to finish their sporting title drought. In the past two years, they have suffered from the restrictions and economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Senegal lost to Algeria in the final of this tournament in 2019, but entered this year's competition as favorites.
Their squad is filled with stars who have played for some of Europe's top clubs with the most famous being Liverpool striker Sadio Mane.
He scored the winning penalty in Sunday's shootout after having missed the penalty kick in normal time that should have put Senegal ahead.
The victory ended a history of stifling defeats. In 2002 Senegal narrowly missed out on becoming the first African team to reach the World Cup semifinals after losing to Turkey in extra time. That year they also lost in the African Cup of Nations final.
At the 2018 World Cup, they were eliminated from the group stage because of a new rule that punished Senegal for getting more yellow cards than Japan, which was their rival in the group stage.
But the result of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations final this morning has erased all the bad memories before this, Reuters reports.
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