Madagascar and Niger have booked their spots in the semi-finals of the African Nations Championship for the first time ever after beating Mozambique and Ghana 3-1 and 2-0 respectively.
The Barea were one of the surprises during the group phase, securing a 100% record as they topped Group C in what is their maiden CHAN outing. Niger, meanwhile, topped the only available spot in Group E ahead of Cameroon and Congo to progress to the quarter-finals for the first time ever.
The Malagasy wasted no time in getting things off at the Mohamed Hamlaoui Stadium in Constantine with Koloina Razafidranaivo netting the opener in the 18th minute. It remained that way until the 67th minute when Jean Razafindrakoto doubled Madagascar’s advantage before Marcio Ravelomanantsoa added a third three minutes from time. Tsiry Randriantsiferana had put the ball into back of the net earlier in the 56th minute but it was ruled out by VAR for a foul in build-up.
Mozambique got a consolation in the fourth minute of added time courtesy of Isac Carvalho.
🇲🇬 and 🇳🇪 wrote history on the last day of the #TotalEnergiesCHAN2022 quarter-finals 👏 pic.twitter.com/GymRZZucOI
— MARHABA (@CAF_Online) January 28, 2023
In the last quarter-final fixture at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran, Niger were off from the 11th minute against the Ghanaians thanks to Imarana Seyni followed by Soumana Hainikoye netting the second four minutes after the restart.
The CHAN semi-finals will now see hosts Algeria take on Niger in Oran on Tuesday while Senegal will tackle Madagascar in Algiers on the same day.
