On an evening of surprises, Guinea fell 2-1 to already-eliminated Zimbabwe in Yaounde and scraped into the spherical of sixteen as runners-up thanks to a better head-to-head record than Malawi.
Brave Malawi finished third and need to wait until Thursday to look if they'll be the various nice four 1/3-placed teams and qualify for the second one round.
Senegal came to the Cup of Nations as one of the favourites but have received best once and scored best once - from a Sadio Mane penalty - in three suits.
The Teranga Lions, runners-as much as Algeria at the final Cup of Nations in 2019, needed ninety seven mins to conquer Zimbabwe, and were held by way of Guinea and Malawi, who are 109 places decrease inside the world rankings.
Malawi believed they should were offered a penalty inside the second half of while Gomezgani Chirwa had his blouse pulled by means of Bouna Sarr, however the referee disagreed after looking at the VAR reveal.
As Senegal sought a late purpose, they introduced midfielder Pape Gueye off the bench in area of useless Boulaye Dia.
Gueye, barred through FIFA closing week over a disputed switch from Watford to Marseille, took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and received.
Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy and Napoli defender Koulibaly overlooked the first fits and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Gueye the second one due to Covid-19.
Zimbabwe triumphed on the flagship African event for the primary time because 2006 after they held on for victory over previously awesome Guinea.
