A historic and extremely rare moment unfolded at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco as Sudan advanced to the knockout stage without scoring a single goal — a first in the tournament’s history.
Competing in Group E, He finished third with three points, trailing only Algeria and Burkina Faso, yet still secured qualification for the next round despite their unusual goal tally.
One Own Goal Proves Enough for Qualification
Sudan’s passage to the knockout stage came from an unlikely source. In their three group matches, they managed just one victory, a narrow 1–0 win over Equatorial Guinea. However, the decisive goal did not come from a Sudanese boot.
Instead, Guinean defender Saul Coco inadvertently turned the ball into his own net, handing Sudan all three points — a result that ultimately proved decisive.
“𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍,” 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝑺𝒖𝒅𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝑨𝑭𝑪𝑶𝑵 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚.
In their other two group matches, He failed to find the net but held on defensively to protect their slim advantage in the standings.
“𝑭𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒖𝒅𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒚,” 𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅.
Can Sudan Turn History Into Momentum?
While Sudan’s achievement is unprecedented, the challenge now becomes far greater. Advancing without scoring highlights their defensive resilience — but questions remain about whether they can rediscover attacking firepower in the knockout rounds.
For now, He can celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime AFCON milestone, proving that sometimes, history is made in the most unlikely fashion.
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