The prediction aged badly. The match aged worse.
I wrote that Morocco would win 2-1. They did not win. They were prevented from winning by a refereeing sequence in the 90th minute that the Moroccan players, the Moroccan coach, the Moroccan federation, and a significant portion of the watching world considered correct. Senegal walked off the pitch in protest. The match was suspended for fourteen minutes. Brahim Díaz then took the resulting penalty with a Panenka and Mendy saved it.
In extra time, Pape Gueye scored at 94 minutes. Senegal won 1-0. The trophy went to Dakar.
I want to write about the moments. The disallowed Senegalese goal in stoppage time, which the referee called for a foul that the VAR review showed was barely a touch. The penalty, which was awarded on a Hakimi cornerkick after Brahim Díaz was tugged by Diouf. The walk-off, ordered by Pape Thiaw, ended by Mané. The Panenka, which Brahim Díaz attempted with the entire game on it, which Mendy saved without diving. The fourth minute of extra time, the Mané steal, the pass to Idrissa Gana Gueye, the lay-off to Pape Gueye, the finish past Bono.
The football itself was the most chaotic AFCON final in living memory. The football was also good. The tactical match was tight, both teams played a recognisable version of their best football, and both deserved to be in the final. The 14-minute walk-off does not change that the underlying ninety minutes were among the best AFCON has produced in a decade.
What this final will be remembered for is not the football. It will be remembered for what happened around it. I will write about that in the next piece. Tonight I just want to sit with the match itself, which deserves at least one piece of writing about what actually happened on the pitch before the discourse swallows it whole.