The 2011 African Nations Championship was the second edition of CHAN and took place in Sudan from 4 to 25 February 2011 with sixteen (16) teams taking place in the finals, double the number of the maiden edition. Forty-one (41) teams played in the qualifiers that were played on Zonal basis.
The finals saw the sixteen teams divided on four groups. Group A had the hosts Sudan with Algeria, Gabon and Uganda. Group B included Ghana, Niger, South Africa and Zimbabwe, while Group C had holders DR Congo with Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Mali. Group D included Angola, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia.
After beating Gabon 1-0 in the opening match, Sudan topped Group A on seven points, two more than Algeria as they both qualified to the quarterfinals. South Africa had maximum nine points in Group B, to reach the next round alongside Niger who collected six points.
Cameroon also collected maximum points nine Group C, and were followed by DR Congo on four, while Tunisia and Angola qualified from Group D on seven and five points respectively.
In the quarterfinals, Algeria defeated South Africa 2-0, while Sudan needed penalties to defeat Niger 4-3 after 1-1 draw in regular time. It was a similar story for Angola who defeated Cameroon 8-7 on penalties after a barren stalemate. Tunisia needed a lone strike after the break to dethrone DR Congo and reach the semis.
The semifinal North-African derby between Algeria and Tunisia ended in a 1-1 draw, with Carthage Eagles prevailing 5-3 on penalties. Angola needed a shootout once again this time to defeat hosts Sudan 4-2 after 1-1 draw in regular time.
Hosts Sudan finished third, with Mudather “Careca” El Tahir scoring the lone goal against Algeria in the third-place playoff.
In the final at El Merriekh Stadium in Omdurman, Tunisia scored three times after the break to thrash Angola 3-0 and win their first CHAN title. Mejdi Traoui opened the scoring two minutes after halftime, with Zouheir Dhaouadi (74) and Oussama Darragi (80) confirming Carthage Eagles finishing as champions.
Source: cafonline.com