Sudan defeated Zambia 1-0 in their 2018 African Nations Championship quarterfinal at Marrakech Stadium on Saturday night.
Malik Saifeldin’s first-half strike proved to be the difference between the teams, with the Falcons of Jediane advancing into the final four. They will play in the second semi-final on Wednesday, against either Nigeria or Angola.
The teams took a while to find their feet in the match, though Sudan definitely looked threatening through the likes of Malik Saifeldin, Mohamed Hashim and Abdelraheem Maaz.
The Falcons of Jediane duly claimed the lead in the 32nd minute when some poor defending from Chipolopolo handed Saifeldin a sight of goal, and he got the better of goalkeeper Toaster Nsabata to put his side 1-0 up.
Hashim very nearly forced an own goal out of Zambian defender John Mwengani in the opening minutes of the second half as Sudan picked up where they left off in the first.
However, Zambia soon went on the attack when coach Wedson Nyirenda replaced Mwengani with midfielder Jackson Chirwa, giving the Southern Africans some extra fluency in their build-ups.
On 66 minutes a low cross from Martin Phiri picked out substitute Friday Samu, but his glancing effort hit the outside of the near post as Zambia continued to search for a way back into the game.
Yet that was as good as it got for Chipolopolo, who were unable to find a way back into the game and exit the tournament in the quarterfinals for the second successive time