TANGIER, Morocco, Jan 3 (Reuters) - A double from midfielder Pape Gueye saw Senegal come from behind to ease past Sudan 3-1 on Saturday and become the first side to book a place in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals.
They were behind after six minutes of their last-16 clash at the Grande Stade Tangier but Gueye scored two goals before halftime and 17-year-old Ibrahima Mbaye added a third 13 minutes from the end.
Senegal will now meet either Mali or Tunisia, who were playing later on Saturday in Casablanca, in the last eight on Friday.
Senegal, the 2021 Cup of Nations winners, are the second-ranked team in Africa and, despite conceding early, showed their quality and strength to win in comfortable fashion.
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 they quickly assumed control of the game, dominating possession and fighting their 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 were level when Mane pinched possession in midfield from Abuaagla Abdallah and fed Gueye, who stuck his effort into the corner of the goal.
Ismailia Sarr was brought down in the area five minutes later but the penalty award was overturned when VAR showed Sarr was 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 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," said Senegal coach Pape Bouna Thiaw.
"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."
(Writing by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Clare Fallon and Christian Radnedge)
