Sadio Mane found the back of the net twice on his landmark 100th cap for Senegal as they defeated South Sudan 4-0 in Group B of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on Saturday night.
The Teranga Lions are favourites to win the automatic spot into the finals in three years time in the United States, Mexico and Canada and wasted no time against the South Sudanese when Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pape Matar Sarr gave them the lead in just the first minute of play.
???????? On his 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th appearance for @GaindeYi, Sadio Mané DELIVERS! ????⚽️#WCQ pic.twitter.com/vqSYzOjCAG
— CAF (@CAF_Online) November 18, 2023
It became 2-0 five minutes later when Al Shabab’s Habib Diallo found Mane to finish off the rest before Everton’s Idrissa Gueye assisted Lamine Camara for the third goal heading to halftime.
Mane completed the scoring in the 57th minute from the penalty spot to hand Senegal early command of Group B.
Matchday 1: ✅
Check out the African #WCQ results of the last day. ???? pic.twitter.com/sOGxJ9yiyI
— CAF (@CAF_Online) November 18, 2023
In other qualifying results on Saturday, Tanzania got the better of Niger with a 1-0 Group E win in Marrakech while South Africa defeated Benin 2-1 in Group C. Bafana Bafana raced to a two-goal first half lead courtesy of Percy Tau and Khuliso Mudau before Brest forward Steve Mounie halved the deficit in the 70th minute.
