By: By Kei Emmanuel Duku
South Sudan National Team the Bright Stars secured a slot in the TotalEnergies African Cup of Nation 2025 in Morocco after a goalless draw against São Tomé e Príncipe in the preliminary match played in Berkane Municipal Stadium in Morocco on Tuesday evening.
Tuesday’s 0:0 draw against São Tomé e Príncipe came three days after the two teams drew 1:1 last week on Friday in the first league.
Having scored an away goal in the first league means The Bright Stars qualified for the group stages of the African Cup of Nations on-away goal rules.
The Bright Stars now join Liberia who advanced to the next round after a 2:0 win on aggregate having won the first league 2:0 away from home and drew goalless on Tuesday evening in the return league.
Other qualified teams include Chad and Eswatini, where Chad beat Mauritius 1:0 and 2:1 making it 3:1 on aggregate. In contrast, Eswatini progressed to the next level after a 2:2 draw on Tuesday against Somalia after they had won the first league 3:0 away from home.
The four (4) preliminary round winners will now join the 44 exempted teams for the group stage.
The preliminary stage of the qualifiers had a total of eight (8) teams which are the lowest-ranked nations as per the FIFA Rankings and they competed in a home-and-away knockout format.
The last time, The Bright Stars secured a victory in the group stage of the African Cup of Nations was in March 2023 in Stade Alphonse Massemba-wining 2-1 against Congo.
TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Morocco 2025 Preliminary Qualifiers Results:
First Leg Results.
Somalia 0 – 3 Eswatini
Djibouti 0 – 2 Liberia
Friday, 22 March
Chad 1 – 0 Mauritius
Sao Tome and Principe 0 – 0 South Sudan
Second League Results
Eswatini 2: Somalia 2 (5:2 on Agg)
Liberia 0: Djibouti 0 (2:0 on Agg)
South Sudan 0: 0 Sao Tome and Principe (1:1 on Agg)
Mauritius 1: Chad 2 (1:3 on Agg)