By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (August 22^nd 2025)

Teranga Lions Devour the Cranes

The last of East-Africa’s co-hosts of the 8^th African Nations Championship (CHAN), Uganda were eliminated at Kampala’s Mandela Stadium 0-1 by Sénégal. The defending CHAN champions, the Teranga Lions saw off the Cranes despite the efforts of the partisan Ugandan crowd.

Even though Uganda enjoyed the bulk of possession 58% against 42 and unleashed 15 shots at Sénegal’s goal – more than twice as many as their opponents – the Teranga Lions gave a solid defensive performance. The Cranes could not carve a way through Sénegal’s obdurant defensive lines. Making matters worse for the home crowd, Oumar Ba’s effort was the only one that mattered – he scored the winner after 62 minutes.

Central defenders Seyni Mbaye Ndiaye and Joseph Layousse Samb distinguished themselves organising the defence and seeing off threats, knowing that behind them goalkeeper Marc Diouf was capable of dealing with the challenges – he did so ably, especially as Uganda chased parity that never came.

Libasse Guèye’s cross from the right flank provided the invitation for Ba to sweep it in – Joel Mutakubwa was powerless to prevent Ba scoring the goal which proved to be decisive. The last of the co-hosts bowed out of their CHAN in the quarter-finals – Kenya and Tanzania were knocked out yesterday.

Meanwhile, Kwesi Appiah’s Sudan saw off the challenge of Majid Boughera’s Desert Foxes in the last of the quarter-finals. Former champions Algeria fell 2-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

The Desert Foxes captain, Ayoub Ghezala was unfortunate, scoring an own-goal that gave Sudan the lead after 48 minutes. Musa Hussein’s effort was well saved by Zakaria Bouhalfaya – the Algerian keeper had magnificently clawed back Salah Adil’s goal-bound strike as half-time approached – but this time he was unlucky as his save was turned into his own net by Ghazali.

Sofiane Bayazid equalised after 73 minutes from close range – relentless pressure finally brought a reward. There was no further score until penalties decided who would advance to the semi-finals.

The Falcons of Jediane secured the semi-final berth thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper, Mohamed Abooja who saved two spot kicks in the 4-2 victory on penalties. The penalty shoot-out began with both Sudan and Algeria scoring their first two spot kicks through Walieldin Khidir and Mohamed Ahmed Saeed and Bayazid and Aymen Mahious scoring for the Desert Foxes. Mehdi Merghem and Zakaria Draoui had their efforts saved by Abooja while Ahmed Tabanja and Mohamed Tia Asad scored for Sudan to secure the win that sent the Falcons into the last four.

Sudan will play Madagascar in Dar es Salaam and Sénégal will face three-times champions Morocco in Kampala on Tuesday August 26^th.