Mali are through to the quarter-finals of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 after an extraordinary 1–1 draw (3–2 on penalties) against Tunisia in Casablanca—despite playing most of the match with 10 men and conceding what looked like a knockout blow late on.
What happened (and why this game swung so violently)
1) Mali went down to 10 men early.
Right-back Woyo Coulibaly was sent off in the 26th minute, leaving Mali to defend for more than 90 minutes a man short.
2) Tunisia finally broke through late—then imploded.
Substitute Firas Chaouat put Tunisia ahead in the 88th minute, seemingly cashing in on their numerical advantage.
3) A handball penalty deep into stoppage time forced extra time.
Tunisia conceded a late penalty for a handball (reported as Yassine Meriah), and Lassine Sinayoko converted in the 90+6’ to make it 1–1.
4) Djigui Diarra decided it in the shootout.
After extra time produced no winner, Mali goalkeeper Djigui Diarra saved two penalties as Mali edged the shootout 3–2, with El Bilal Touré scoring the decisive kick.
The deeper storyline: resilience versus wastefulness
This was less a classic end-to-end contest than a contest of temperament. Mali’s structure and stamina—especially after the red card—kept Tunisia at arm’s length, and when Tunisia finally scored, they failed to manage the closing seconds.
Several accounts also noted difficult wet and windy conditions that contributed to a scrappy game and made execution in the final third harder than usual.
What it means
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Mali advance to face Senegal in the quarter-finals in Tangier (scheduled for January 9, per match reports).
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Tunisia exit after a match they controlled numerically for most of the evening—but couldn’t convert into a clean win.
