{"id":886266,"date":"2026-01-19T18:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/the-medal-and-the-towel-senegal-goalkeeper-diouf-jokes-after-morocco-ball-boy-scuffle\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T18:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:26:08","slug":"the-medal-and-the-towel-senegal-goalkeeper-diouf-jokes-after-morocco-ball-boy-scuffle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/the-medal-and-the-towel-senegal-goalkeeper-diouf-jokes-after-morocco-ball-boy-scuffle\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00b4The medal and the towel\u00b4 \u2013 Senegal goalkeeper Diouf jokes after Morocco ball boy scuffle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mmwebhandler.aff-online.com\/C\/35442?sr=155474&#038;anid=\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.soccernews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/SN\/images\/300x250_HR.gif\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Senegal\u2019s backup goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf has poked fun at his scuffles with ball boys and Morocco officials during the Africa Cup of Nations final, posing with his medal and a towel.<\/p>\n<p>The Lions of Teranga are champions of Africa for the second time after Pape Gueye\u2019s extra-time blockbuster sealed a 1-0 success over the tournament hosts in Rabat.<\/p>\n<p>Gueye\u2019s stunning effort came after Edouard Mendy saved a terrible Panenka penalty from Brahim Diaz 24 minutes into second-half stoppage time, with the spot-kick being delayed for over 15 minutes after Senegal coach Pape Thiaw told his players to leave the pitch and refuse to play.<\/p>\n<p>Senegal are expected to face sanctions over their walk-off, with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) criticising their \u201cunacceptable behaviour\u201d in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>But that was not the only source of controversy as, throughout the game, several ball boys were seen to steal towels from Senegal shot-stopper Mendy before throwing them into the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>Footage shared on social media showed Diouf standing near the goal and handing his team-mate a towel when required, only to be confronted by several ball boys.<\/p>\n<p>At one point, the Nice goalkeeper appeared to be thrown onto the pitch before a group of ball boys attempted to drag him off the playing area by his legs, while a suited official and multiple Morocco players were also seen to confront him.<\/p>\n<p>And Diouf saw the funny side after Senegal\u2019s success, taunting Morocco with a post to his Instagram story on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside a photo of himself in the dressing room and a laughing emoji, Diouf wrote: \u201cThere it is \u2013 the medal and the towel.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Champions.   <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hy3h9mchJp\"> pic.twitter.com\/hy3h9mchJp <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 OGC Nice (@ogcnice) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ogcnice\/status\/2013243531951824981?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\"> January 19, 2026 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Diaz\u2019s Panenka was Morocco\u2019s fifth unsuccessful penalty at AFCON since Opta began detailed data collection at the competition in 2010, the joint-most alongside Tunisia.<\/p>\n<p>In the same period, Senegal\u2019s goalkeepers have saved two of the four penalties they have faced, with only Zambia\u2019s keepers doing better (three saves).<\/p>\n<p>Gueye\u2019s goal, meanwhile, was Senegal\u2019s first in four AFCON final appearances, having beaten Egypt on penalties following a goalless draw in 2021, following defeats to Cameroon in 2002 and Algeria in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>And Morocco are the fourth host nation to lose an AFCON final and the second to do so in extra time, after Tunisia lost 3-2 to Ghana in 1965.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.soccernews.com\/the-medal-and-the-towel-senegal-goalkeeper-diouf-jokes-after-morocco-ball-boy-scuffle\/394992\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>SoccerNews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Senegal\u2019s backup goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf has poked fun at his scuffles with ball boys and Morocco officials during the Africa Cup of Nations final, posing with his medal and a towel. The Lions of Teranga are champions of Africa for the second time after Pape Gueye\u2019s extra-time blockbuster sealed a 1-0 success over the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":886267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4948,77348,2005],"tags":[42747,14144],"class_list":{"0":"post-886266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the","8":"category-medal","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-the","11":"tag-medal"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}