Head coach of Sudan, James Kwasi Appiah, says his side's victory over Mauritania in the FIFA 2026 World Cup Qualifiers was deserving.

Sudan grabbed a vital away win against Mauritania on Thursday evening as they continued their unbeaten run in the qualifying series.

Sudan dominated the contest early on, with Saif Thierry breaking the deadlock in the 15th minute with a well-executed free kick. Aly Abeid's unlucky own goal in the 29th minute worsened Mauritania's troubles.

Speaking after the game, Appiah praised the performance of his team while highlighting the will to do it in the absence of some of his key players.

”I think we played well and deserved to win,” he said in an interview with Sportsworldghana.com. ”For us, every game is an away game because we are playing without our supporters."

”Unfortunately three of our key players couldn’t join us but we still managed to work with the players available, at least creating an opportunity for the other players to also play and they did well to get us the important win in Mauritania.

”We’re building a competitive young team here such that if some players aren’t available others can step in and play to give us results."

Sudan currently leads Group B with 7 points while Senegal and DR Congo have five and four points respectively after playing three matches so far in the qualifiers.