Uganda, Sudan pick vital wins in AFCON 2025 qualifiers

Uganda Cranes and Sudan have registered important wins to brighten their chances of qualifying for the TotalEnergies CAF Africa cup of Nations (AFCON) 2025.

Coach Paul Put guided Uganda Cranes to a 2-1 win away to South Sudan in a Group K match of the qualifiers played at the Juba National Stadium on Tuesday.

Denis Omedi gave Uganda the lead with a 15^th minute strike, but Yohanna Juma leveled matters six minutes later.

After recess substitute Travis Mutyaba’s free kick was diverted by Alfred Leku for an own goal to restore Uganda’s lead after 66 minutes. The South Sudan team tried to push forward in search of more goals, but failed to beat Uganda’s defending line.

The win sent Uganda further top of Group K with 10 points, while South Africa who later drew 1-1 away to Congo Brazzaville moved to 8 points.

In a Group F match played at the Martyrs Stadium in Libya, hosts Sudan scored two second half goals to defeat former African champions Ghana 2-0.

Amed Hamed Mahamed and Mohamed Abdelrahman netted the goals to send Sudan to 7 points with two matches to spare. Angola who will face Niger later lead the Group with 9 points.

At the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam, hosts Tanzania suffered a 2-0 defeat to DR Congo in a Group H match of the qualifier. Meshak Elia netted two late goals to ensure DR Congo qualified for the AFCON 2025 with two more matches yet to be played.

Tanzania remain in second place with 4 points, while Guinea who are placed third with 3 points were yet to play bottom placed Ethiopia later.

Two other teams from the CECAFA Zone Burundi and Kenya also suffered defeats in matches played on Sunday and Monday respectively. Burkina Faso stopped Burundi 2-0, while Kenya lost 1-0 to Cameroon in a match played at the Nelson Mandela Stadium, Namboole in Kampala, Uganda.

Collected results

Burundi 0 Burkina Faso 2

Kenya 0 Cameroon 1

Sudan 2 Ghana 0

Tanzania 0 DR Congo 2

South Sudan 1 Uganda 2