Group C of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations took place from 15 to 23 January 2024.[1] The group consisted of defending champions Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea, and Gambia.[2]
Senegal and Cameroon as the top two teams, along with Guinea as one of the four best third-placed teams, advanced to the round of 16.
| Draw position | Team | Zone | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA Rankings | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2023 | December 2023 | |||||||||||||
| C1 | style=white-space:nowrap | data-sort-value="C1" | Group L winners | data-sort-value="5" | 28 March 2023 | 17th | data-sort-value="3.1" | Winners (2021) | 20 | 20 | ||||
| C2 | style=white-space:nowrap | data-sort-value="C2" | Group C winners | data-sort-value="23" | 12 September 2023 | 21st | data-sort-value="3.2" | Winners (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2017) | 41 | 46 | ||||
| C3 | style=white-space:nowrap | data-sort-value="C3" | Group D runners-up | data-sort-value="15" | 20 June 2023 | 14th | data-sort-value="3.3" | Runners-up (1976) | 81 | 80 | ||||
| C4 | style=white-space:nowrap | data-sort-value="C4" | Group G runners-up | data-sort-value="22" | 10 September 2023 | 2nd | data-sort-value="3.4" | Quarter-finals (2021) | 118 | 126 | ||||
All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).
It was the first fixture between the two rivalling Senegambian nations in AFCON history, and their first competitive meeting since the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, where they played out two draws.
Senegal got off to a perfect start as a ball by Sadio Mané found Pape Gueye, who found the bottom corner. Things got better for the Senegalese when Ebou Adams' reckless tackle on Lamine Camara resulted in his dismissal. With his team having the numerical advantage, Camara raced onto Ismaïla Sarr’s through-ball and slotted a neat finish into the far corner in the 52th minute. Late on, Camara scored a second time with a spectacular strike into the top corner, assisted by Iliman Ndiaye.
This was the first time Gambia lost a group stages match in the AFCON, having gone undefeated back in 2021.
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| Man of the Match: Lamine Camara (Senegal)
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Guinea pressed Cameroon early on and were rewarded when Mohamed Bayo scored; his first shot failed to find the net but he took his next opportunity after the Cameroonians' sloppy efforts to clear. However, a reckless challenge by François Kamano on Frank Magri at the end of the first half resulted in Kamano's dismissal. Cameroon capitalised from this when Magri scored with a header thanks to a clinical delivery from Georges-Kévin Nkoudou. However, Cameroon could not press home their numerical advantage over Guinea and had to settle for a draw.
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| Man of the Match: Mohamed Bayo (Guinea)
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It was their first AFCON encounter since the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, where Cameroon knocked out Senegal on penalties.
The battle between the two African titans started in Senegal's favour when Ismaïla Sarr struck via a hefty deflection following the Cameroonians' failure to clear Lamine Camara's corner in the 16th minute. Habib Diallo then slid home Sarr’s delivery from the right with Senegal’s first attempt on goal in the second half, in the 71st minute. Jean-Charles Castelletto halved the deficit with a brilliant header from a cross by Olivier Ntcham, but Sadio Mané killed any hope for a Cameroonian comeback with a goal in the fifth minute of added time to secure Senegal's win.
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| Man of the Match: Ismaïla Sarr (Senegal)
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Guinea and Gambia had faced each other in a competitive AFCON once, back in 2021 when Gambia shocked Guinea with a 1–0 win.
The game was tense as Guinea proved more dominant than Gambia, but there were no goals until the 69th minute, when Aguibou Camara stretched to convert from Morgan Guilavogui's clever cut-back to win the match as Guinea avenged their 2021 loss by the same scoreline.
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| Man of the Match: Aguibou Camara (Guinea)
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This was their first meeting since facing each other at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, which ended in a goalless draw.
Guinea and Senegal looked set for another stalemate until the 61st minute when Krépin Diatta's free-kick delivery was met by Abdoulaye Seck and his header gave Senegal the lead. Iliman Ndiaye then confirmed the win for Senegal with a clinical finish in the 90th minute.
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| Man of the Match: Abdoulaye Seck (Senegal)
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This was their second meeting in AFCON history, after the previous one in 2021 ended with a Cameroonian victory.
After a goalless first half, the second half was filled with action. First, Karl Toko Ekambi, assisted by Georges-Kévin Nkoudou, got the first goal with a header. However, Ablie Jallow then scored Gambia's first goal in this AFCON, latching onto an inch-perfect cross and drilling home to equalise in the 72nd minute. Ebrima Colley then sent a strong shot into the far corner to put Gambia on course for a win in the 85th minute. However, James Gomez's clumsy effort to clear out ended up as an own goal to equalise for Cameroon just two minutes later, before the final drama arrived in the first minute of extra time when from a corner kick, Christopher Wooh scored a brilliant header to turn the game around. Muhammed Sanneh looked to have equalised for Gambia in the third minute of extra time after yet another brilliant corner, but his effort was ruled out by VAR for handball as Cameroon held firm to win.[3]
This result meant Gambia failed to advance past the group stages of an AFCON for the first time, and lost all three group stage games.
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| Man of the Match: Christopher Wooh (Cameroon)
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Fair play points would have been used as tiebreakers if the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:
Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player in a single match.
| Team | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Points | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 2 | –5 | |||||||||||
| 2 | 3 | –5 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | –8 | ||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | –8 |
