By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (August 17^th 2025)

Group A Matchday 5

Eric Chelle’s Nigeria ended their underwhelming CHAN campaign with a much needed 2-0 victory over Congo – a result that made little difference as both Sudan and Sénégal advanced to the quarter-finals after

Anas Yusuf scored the winner for Nigeria after 56 minutes – Sikuri Alimi provide the assist nodding it into Yusuf’s path. Yusuf snaffled the chance from close range to put the Congolese on the back foot – it was the Super Eagles’ first goal in the competition. As the match approached its end Charles Atipo’s yellow card was upgraded to a straight red after a VAR review of his foul on Alimi. Atipo was dismissed two minutes into added time at the end of the match and a minute later Alimi doubled Nigeria’s lead, heading in Sodiq Ismail’s freekick.

Nigeria, already eliminated, finished third in Dar es Salaam on three points – Congo with two draws and a defeat ended bottom of Group D. That meant that Sudan and Sénégal qualified irrespective of the result between as both started the day on four points. Sudan had the superior goal difference of +4 compared to +1. That meant that anything less than a win for Sénégal would not be enough to top the group. The match at Zanzibar’s Amaan Stadium ended in a 0-0 draw. Both halves ended with the Zimbabwean referee taking centre stage. He reversed his decision to award Sudan a penalty for an alleged foul by Oumar Ba at the end of the first half. Sudan had not had a single shot on target in the first half and  Sénégal had only done one better. The Teranga Lions finished the match with ten men Mbaye Yaya Ly was sent off after 5 minutes of added time at the end of the match – a second yellow card for a foul on Al-Merrikh’s Muhamed Al Rasheed Mahmoud Shambaly (M Al Rasheed).

Sudan will face Algeria in Zanzibar and Sénégal will travel to Kampala to face Uganda.