{"id":1109,"date":"2026-01-03T20:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/1109\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T20:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:12:07","slug":"sadio-mane-inspired-senegal-reaches-africa-cup-quarterfinals-after-beating-sudan-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/1109\/","title":{"rendered":"Sadio Man\u00e9-inspired Senegal reaches Africa Cup quarterfinals after beating Sudan"},"content":{"rendered":"

RABAT, Morocco \u2014 Sadio Man\u00e9 led Senegal to the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations after a 3-1 win over Sudan in Tangier on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The 2019 and 2022 African footballer of the year chased and harried, and set up goals and chances for teammates, leading by example in the absence of suspended captain Kalidou Koulibaly.<\/p>\n

Man\u00e9 set up midfielder Pape Gueye\u2019s first goal of two and substitute Ibrahim Mbaye\u2019s goal to seal the win, sending the Lions of Teranga, the 2021 winners, through to a quarterfinal against Mali or Tunisia, who were playing in Casablanca later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to dig deep,\u201d said Senegal coach Pape Thiaw, whose team faced an early setback.<\/p>\n

Aamir Abdallah stunned the favorites when he fired in Sudan\u2019s opener in the sixth minute.<\/p>\n

It was the first and last goal scored by a Sudanese player in the tournament. The Falcons of Jediane defeated Equatorial Guinea in the group stage thanks to an own goal.<\/p>\n

The Sudanese, who played all of their qualifying matches away from home as the country contends with a brutal war and humanitarian crisis, made a confident start against Senegal and did not hold back in going for another.<\/p>\n

\"Sudan's<\/p>\n

Sudan’s goalkeeper Amar Yunis Abdallah Ibrahim saves in front of Senegal’s Sadio Mane during the Africa Cup of Nations best of 16 soccer match between Senegal and Sudan in Tangier, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. Credit: AP\/Mosa’ab Elshamy<\/p>\n

“I am sure the Sudanese people know that we came to this competition and proudly represented them,\u201d Sudan coach James Kwesi Appiah said.<\/p>\n

Senegal was a challenge too far.<\/p>\n

Isma\u00efla Sarr twice drew saves from Sudanese ‘keeper Monged El Neel, Man\u00e9 missed another chance, and El Neel saved again from Mohamed Eisa, Gueye and Nicolas Jackson, before Man\u00e9 set up Gueye to score in the 29th.<\/p>\n

Senegal kept pushing and Gueye got the second before the break, this time set up by Jackson.<\/p>\n

\"Senegal's<\/p>\n

Senegal’s Sadio Mane in action during the Africa Cup of Nations best of 16 soccer match between Senegal and Sudan in Tangier, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. Credit: AP\/Mosa’ab Elshamy<\/p>\n

Goalkeeper \u00c9douard Mendy denied Sudan an equalizer after it, before Senegal resumed its dominance.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old Mbaye made his entrance as a substitute in the 74th and Man\u00e9 set up the youngster to wrap it up on a break three minutes later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RABAT, Morocco \u2014 Sadio Man\u00e9 led Senegal to the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[63,323,1308],"class_list":{"0":"post-1109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-soccer","10":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}