Senegal first to book place in AFCON last eight
A double from midfielder Pape Gueye saw Senegal come from behind to ease past Sudan 3-1 and become the first side to book a place in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals.
It was behind after six minutes of its Round of 16 clash at Grande Stade Tangier but Gueye scored two goals before half-time and 17-year-old Ibrahima Mbaye added a third 13 minutes from the end.
Senegal, the 2021 AFCON winner, is the No.2 ranked team in Africa and, despite conceding early, showed its quality and strength to win in comfortably in the end.
Sudan took a surprise lead with a classy goal as the Australian-based Aamir Abdallah, who plays in the state league in Victoria, cut inside the much vaunted Senegal defence and curled a left footed effort wide of Edouard Mendy.
It was a shock setback for the highly fancied Senegal but it quickly assumed control of the game, dominating possession and fighting its way back to lead at the break.
Nicolas Jackson had a point-blank effort expertly stopped by Sudan goalkeeper Mongeel El Neel but a minute later Senegal was level when Mane pinched possession in midfield from Abuaagla Abdallah and fed Gueye, who stuck his effort into the corner of the goal.
Crystal Palace star Ismailia Sarr was brought down in the area five minutes later but the penalty award was overturned when the video assistant referee (VAR) showed Sarr had been offside in the build-up.
Sarr then had the ball in the net in the 43rd minute but was again denied by an offside call before his run set up Gueye’s second, feeding Jackson who turned the ball back to the edge of the area where Gueye side-footed it in with precision.
Substitute Mbaye got the third in the 77th minute to become, some three weeks before his 18th birthday, the second youngest scorer in Africa Cup of Nations history as Mane was again the provider.
"We needed to dig deep to come from a goal down to be able to win the match," Senegal coach Pape Bouna Thiaw said.
"I give credit to my players for the way they focused on the game and recovered to win the match. Now we will focus on the next match by correcting some of the mistakes we noted in this game and pursue our goals with intensity."
