By Kei Emmanuel Duku
Sudan National kicked off their 2025 TotalEnergies African Cup Nations campaign with a goalless 1:0 victory against Niger in a match played in Juba Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
A lone goal from Abu Bakr Issa through a header from teammate Abdel Rahman in the 51 minutes of the second half gave Sudan the three vital points in their opening match of the group stage qualifiers.
In the first half, both teams struggled to create opportunities as the first half ended goalless.
Sudan’s Goalkeeper was instrumental during the match-making a couple of saves to deny Niger goal-scoring opportunities before he was injured in the course of the match and replaced by collogue Abu Ashrine.
Sudan is in Group F alongside Africa Heavyweight Ghana, Angola and Niger. They currently sit top of the table with three points out of one game played with Ghana and Angola played their game yesterday.
Their next match is away to Angola in Luanda next week on Monday whereas Niger hosts the Blacks Stars on Monday 09th September in their second African Cup quantification.
Both teams are playing their home matches away from home, for Sudan due to the current civil war while Niger does not have a recognized stadium. Niger’s next home match against Ghana next week will be played in Moroccan city of Berkane.
This is the second time the Sudanese national team is playing in Juba Stadium. The first game against South Sudan National during the official inauguration of Juba Stadium in June 2024 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers ended 3:0 in favor of Sudan.
According to one Sudanese refugee who is currently in Juba due to the ongoing conflict appreciated the support offered to the national team during the two matches and called the two worrying fiction to cease war and return the country to peace.
“Today I am happy with the victory because our team played away from home due to the civil as civilians we need peace not war, they (Our leaders) should think about the suffering of civilians” noted the enthusiast fan.