In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Cameroon’s advancement was made possible by a VAR intervention, which set them up for the most exciting last sixteen in the Africa Cup of Nations.

When Gambia, the bottom-finishing team in the group, believed they had equalized in the 95th minute to make it 3-3, the African heavyweights appeared to be headed for an unexpecteԀ group stage elimination.

After a VAR inspection, everyone in Cameroon exhaled collectively. Then, the match was called off for handball, and the Indomitable Lions narrowly won Group C as runners-up.

When Manchester United’s top scorer, Andre Onana, came off the bench for this match, everybody took notice; nevertheless, things would soon go far worse.

Just before the hour, Karl Toko Ekambi gave them the lead, but Rigobert Song’s squad was soon down 2-1 and facing certain elimination.

Song’s favoured team was sweating after goals from Ablie Jallow and Ebrima Colley, who scored his only five minutes remaining.

James Gomez gave them a lifeline with an own goal in the 87th minute, and then defender Christopher Wooh scored a stunning victory in time.

To the cоnfusiоn of Cameroon’s players and managers, the drаmа did not finish there. In the 95th minute, Colley bundled in the ball, giving Gambia the impression that they had scored a historic point.

Colley had indeed handled it into the net, according to additional VAR inspection, and it was correctly disqualified.

All of this meant that Cameroon defeated Guinea in terms of goals scored, while the Gambia were eliminated following their third straight defeat.

Nigeria will now play Cameroon in the last-16 on Saturday in Abidjan.

As a result, Onana will remain at the competition for a little bit longer. On Sunday, when Erik ten Hag’s team plays Newport in the FA Cup fourth round, United No. 2 will finally make his debut.

In the other Group C encounter, Senegal, the reigning champions, defeated Guinea 2-0 in Yamoussoukro thanks to goals from Abdoulaye Seck and Iliman Ndiaye in the second half. Senegal now has three wins out of three games.

Unlike what we have witnessed thus far in the Ivory Coast, this game lacked clear-cut opportunities and neither team made an excessive effort to аttаck. It was expected that Seck would use a set-piece for his opening goal, and Ndiaye would add a tidy finish.

Senegal leads the pool with nine points, and Cameroon is second with four after defeating Guinea in goals scored. Guinea, one of the top third-placed teams, will also advance.

Senegal, the winners of 2021 and finalists in the previous two, welcomed returned coach Aliou Cisse to the dugout after he spent the night in the hospital due to an infectiоn after their match against Cameroon.

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Guinea only managed one try on goal, a late effort that drew a good save from goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, while Senegal scored two goals from their two attempts on goal.

Cisse will be happy that his team put up another strong defensive showing because they scored eight goals while only giving up one goal during the pool stages.

Sadio Mane didn’t have a good day, but right before the hour, he had a great opportunity to break the game. He raced clean on goal, rounded Guinean keeper Ibrahim Kone, but his shot at an empty net went terribly wide.

The 31-year-old was clearly surprised that he couldn’t find the back of the net, as it was a goal he would have expected to score.