Five-Star Senegal ruthlessly crush South Africa to proceed to Afcon Under-17 semis

South Africa's hopes for qualifying for the Under-17 World Cup were cruelly and unceremoniously extinguished when they were crushed 5-0 by Senegal in their Under-17 African Cup of Nations quarter-final clash in Algiers on Wednesday.

The scoreline was indicative of the Teranga Cub's dominance as they didn't allow Amajimbos to have a shot at goal.

The West African teenagers kept clean sheets through their group stage march, and to be fair, didn't look like conceding in this fixture.

They did allow their South African counterparts some leeway at the start of the game, especially in the midfield, but once SA conceded two own goals in two minutes, their fight departed them.

Senegal took complete control of the game and comfortably qualified for the age-group tournament that'll be held later in the year at a venue that FIFA still has to announce.

Outside of the own goals, Senegal had captain and number 10 Amara Diouf to thank, with the midfield maestro scoring a brace while also providing the aerial passes that led to the own-goals that ended the game as a contest.

The only real goal-bound chance SA had was in the 35th minute when Michael Dokunmu headed Siyabonga Mabena's cross wide.

Through Diouf, Senegal had threatened in the 21st minute, but he had a big say in the 36th minute when his cross that was headed down by Omar Fall was turned past Gennaro Johnson in SA's goal by defender Waylon Reyneke.

Two minutes later, Johnson was at fault when Diouf's freekick that bounced off his chest was accidentally toe-poked into the net by captain Benjamin Wallis.

Eight minutes later, the game was well and truly over as a contest when Lamine Sadio's drive from just outside the box after a goal-mouth scramble beat Johnson to increase the lead to