The African Youth Championship has again been dominated by teams from West Africa as all four semifinalists are from the sub-region.
The Flying Eagles of Nigeria are the record winners of this U20 competition having won it six times and in Senegal they have so far shown they want a seventh championship at this level.
After winning their first two group games against hosts Senegal and Congo, they became the first team to qualify for both the U20 World Cup in new Zealand as well as the semifinals of the AYC.
Both Ghana and Mali again underscored their consistency at this age-group tournament after they also booked their passage to the last four after two rounds of matches.
Both teams saw off Southern African opposition in South Africa and Zambia.
Ghana and Mali have been consistent in this competition with the Black satellites becoming the first African team to win the U20 World Cup six years ago in Egypt.
Mali have reached the last four of the competition in the last three editions.
The last semifinalists were the host nation who bounced back from an opening day loss to Nigeria to beat Congo 4-3 in a most dramatic final group game to go through at the expense of another West African country, Cote d’Ivoire.
Unlike in the last two editions, North Africa were conspicuously missing at Senegal 2015 after reigning champions Egypt were eliminated in the qualifiers by surprise team Congo.