Sudan snatch unlikely quarter-final place, join Ivory Coast

Jan 30, 2012, 20:15 GMT

Libreville, Gabon - Sudan grabbed an unlikely quarter-final place at the Africa Cup of Nations as they beat Burkina Faso on Monday while Angola lost to already-qualified Ivory Coast.

Sudan, who are the only team at the tournament with a squad consisting exclusively of locally based players, went into the final round of matches in group B trailing Angola by three points and two goals.

Mudather Eltaib scored twice for his side in a 2-1 victory against Burkina Faso, for whom Moumouna Dagano scored an injury-time goal in the Equatorial Guinean city of Bata, while a second-string Ivory Coast side proved too strong for the Palencas Negras, who lost the game in Malabo 2-0 through goals by Emmanuel Eboue and Wilfried Bony.

The Ivory Coast top the group with nine points, while Sudan finished second on four - ahead on goal difference from Angola. Burkina Faso finished without a point.

Sudan's last success at the showpiece of African football was in 1970, when they won as hosts. That was the last time they had won a game prior to Monday.

Earlier, the two co-hosts Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, as well as Tunisia and Zambia, had also progressed to the knock-out stages.