Soccer: Drama as Libya reach quarterfinal

TANGIERS, Morocco: Libya scored three minutes into stoppage time to edge Rwanda 1-0 Tuesday and snatch an African Nations Championship (CHAN) quarter-finals place behind Group C winners Nigeria.

Relentless Libyan pressure in northern Moroccan city Tangiers finally paid off when substitute Elmutasem Abushnaf swept a low cross into the roof of the net. Nigeria topped the table with seven points, Libya had six, Rwanda four and Equatorial Guinea finished pointless.

While the “Mediterranean Knights” danced and sang when the final whistle blew, many Rwandan “Wasps” cried after coming so close to finishing runners-up.

A draw would have taken Rwanda through at the expense of Libya and having survived so many goalmouth scares, it looked like the central Africans were going to make it. But justice was done when dominant Libya scored and they will travel south to Agadir and prepare for a last-eight showdown Sunday against the Group D winners, currently Congo Brazzaville.