The Crystal Palace midfielder helped his country reach the semi-finals with a substitute goal against Eqautorial Guinea., and played 65 minutes in their win over Burkina Faso.
Senegal, the highest-ranked African country in world football, trumped their opponents with goals from Liverpool’s Sadio Mané and Paris Saint-Germain’s Abdou Diallo and Idrissa Gueye, who developed through Patrick Vieira’s Diambars Academy.
Les Éléphants will now face hosts Egypt in the final on Sunday, February 6th, at 19:00 GMT. Egypt beat hosts Cameroon on penalties in the semi-final.
The Burkina Faso game was a fairly confident win for Senegal, although a Blati Touré goal in the 82nd-minute gave them a late scare and defensive work to do.
Senegal have never before won AFCON, but reached the final in 2002 and 2019, when Kouyaté captained his country in a loss to Algeria.
Earlier in the 2022 tournament Kouyaté made the most of a defensive error from Equatorial Guinea, tapping in on the edge of the six-yard box and giving his side the confidence to drive home a quarter-final win.
As we near the AFCON final, see how every Palace player fared in the tournament below.
FIXTURES AND RESULTS
All times are UK time.
Ghana – Ayew
- Morocco 1-0 Ghana (Ayew played 86 minutes alongside his brother Andre up-front)
- Gabon 1-1 Ghana (Ayew started the game, and was substituted in injury time)
- Ghana 2-3 Comoros (Ayew played the full 90 minutes up front)
Senegal – Kouyaté
- Senegal 1-0 Zimbabwe (Kouyaté played match in the centre of midfield)
- Senegal 0-0 Guinea (Kouyaté played match in the centre of midfield)
- Malawi 0-0 Senegal (Kouyaté played the full 90 minutes in central midfield)
Ivory Coast – Zaha
- Equatorial Guinea 0-1 Ivory Coast (Zaha replaced Maxwel Cornet in the 71st-minute)
- Ivory Coast 2-2 Sierra Leone (Zaha earned an assist and won a penalty before being replaced in the 82nd-minute)
- Ivory Coast 3-1 Algeria (Zaha came on after 85 minutes)
Round of 16
- Tuesday, 25th: Senegal 2-0 Cape Verde (Kouyaté was not in the matchday squad)
- Wednesday, 26th: Ivory Coast 0-0 (4-5) Egypt (Zaha came on in the 71st-minute and scored in the penalty shootout)
Quarter-finals
- Sunday, 30th January: Senegal 3-1 Equatorial Guinea (Kouyaté came on in the 65th-minute and scored the crucial second goal moments later)
Semi-finals
- Wednesday, 2nd February: Burkina Faso 1-3 Senegal (Kouyaté played 65 minutes)
Final
- 6th February: Senegal v Egypt (19:00)
Stay tuned to cpfc.co.uk, the official Palace app and our social media channels to find out how Cheikhou gets on!
