Brahim Diaz pushed Morocco through to the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals on Sunday, knocking out Tanzania with his goal. Now, Morocco faces Cameroon, who edged past South Africa 2-1 in their own tense last-16 match.

Diaz, Real Madrid's winger, has been on fire—he scored in every group game and kept that streak alive with a 64th-minute strike that sealed a 1-0 win in Rabat’s Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium. That makes him the first Moroccan ever to score in four straight AFCON matches. After his goal, he held up a shirt for Azzedine Ounahi, their injured midfielder, and later dedicated the win to him. Ounahi showed up at the stadium on crutches; his tournament is over, thanks to a calf injury.

Morocco really made hard work of it, missing several chances before finally getting their breakthrough. Their unbeaten run stretches to 23 games now—their last loss was actually to South Africa at this very tournament.

Achraf Hakimi, fresh from injury and named African player of the year, set up Diaz’s winner. This was his first start of the competition, and he wasted no time making an impact.

Morocco came in as the big favourites. Home crowd? Check—almost 70,000 fans packed in. World rankings? They’re 101 places above Tanzania. But Tanzania didn’t read the script. Just three minutes in, Saimon Msuva nearly stunned everyone, but he couldn’t connect with Selemani Mwalimu’s cross.

Fifteen minutes in, Ismael Saibari headed home Abdessamad Ezzalzouli’s free kick, but the flag went up for offside. The hosts kept pushing in the second half, Hakimi smashed a free kick off the bar, and finally, Diaz broke through—Hakimi set him up, and Diaz beat the keeper at the near post.

Morocco’s coach, Walid Regragui, put it bluntly: “We only started playing in the second half, but we absolutely deserved to go through.”

For Tanzania, this was their first time in the AFCON knockout stages. They battled hard but still haven’t won a game in 13 tries at the tournament. Their coach, Miguel Angel Gamondi, was proud: “The gap between Morocco and us isn’t as big as people think. We’ll come back stronger.”

Now, Morocco gears up for Cameroon, which got past South Africa thanks to goals from Junior Tchamadeu and Christian Kofane. Tchamadeu, Stoke City’s London-born full-back, tapped in the first after a deflection in the 34th minute. Right after halftime, teenage forward Kofane doubled the lead with a well-placed header.

South Africa fought back late—Evidence Makgopa scored in the 88th minute, but Cameroon held on, a bit nervy at the end.

So, five-time champions Cameroon can relax a bit heading into their showdown with Morocco, with the pressure squarely on the hosts. Their coach, David Pagou, who only just took over the team, said, “I want to enjoy this win first. The Morocco game feels far away right now. We suffered today, even though we won, and all of us need a rest.”

For South Africa, it’s a tough pill to swallow after finishing third at the last AFCON. But coach Hugo Broos is already looking ahead: “We’re not going backwards, but we need to honestly assess what happened here and focus on the World Cup.”

Pape Gueye stole the show with two goals, leading Senegal to a 3-1 comeback win over Sudan at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. That result ended Sudan’s gutsy run—a bright spot for a country still deep in civil war.

Aamir Abdallah gave Sudan a dream start, curling a beautiful shot past Edouard Mendy just six minutes in. For a moment, it looked like we might see a real shock in Tangier. Mendy had to stay sharp, diving low to deny Mohamed Eisa midway through the first half, while the relentless drumming of Senegal’s fans kept pushing their team forward.

Senegal didn’t panic. They dug in and started to take control. Gueye struck twice before halftime, flipping the script. This was Sudan’s first knockout game at an AFCON, and, for a while, they looked ready to make history. But Gueye’s goals took the wind out of them, and by the end of the half, Senegal was comfortably on top.

Ibrahim Mbaye, just 17 and already turning heads at Paris Saint-Germain, sealed things late with a sharp finish at the near post. Senegal’s old pros, Sadio Mane and Ismaila Sarr, made the difference too. Mane’s clever assist for Gueye’s first goal actually made him the most productive playmaker in AFCON history—a nice little bit of trivia for the night.

Sudan hadn’t scored a single goal for themselves in the group stage, but they came out swinging here. Abdallah led the charge, taking on Ismail Jakobs whenever he could, and he got his reward with that early strike. Even after the goal, Sudan kept pressing, and Abdallah nearly doubled their lead.

But Senegal weathered the storm. Sarr and Mane started threading passes, and Gueye took his chances—his second, a gorgeous first-time finish, came deep in first-half stoppage time. Sudan didn’t quit, though. Right after the break, Sheddy Barglan forced a top-class save from Mendy.

The second half echoed the first: Sudan started strong but couldn’t keep it up. They ran out of steam, and Senegal just got stronger as the game wore on. When Mbaye scored late, that was that. Senegal marched on to the quarter-finals, and Sudan’s remarkable run was over.