Emilio Nsue scored the only goal of the game as Equatorial Guinea defeated Tanzania 1-0 to advance to the Africa Cup of Nations, and send the Taifa Stars crashing out of contention.
In a match staged at the Nuevo Stadium in Malabo on Thursday, the National Thunder needed maximum points to qualify from Group J, while the East Africans needed a win to revive their chances of making it to the finals.
Taifa Stars, under then head coach Etienne Ndayiragije, had managed to win the first match between the pair 2-1, when goals from Simon Msuva and Salum Abubakar were enough to give them a win over their opponents, who had scored through Pedro Obiang.