TotalEnergies CAF Futsal AFCON: Hornes Santo shines on AFCON Futsal debut

Angola forward Hornes Santo scored twice for the second match running as the Palancas Negras beat Tanzania 6-0 at the TotalEnergies CAF Futsal AFCON, booking a semifinal place with a game to spare.

The 6-0 win followed a 5-1 victory over Mozambique in Angola's Group A opener, where Santo also netted a brace on his first appearance at the tournament.

"It's important for all players to score. I think it will help me develop game by game. It's an amazing feeling. I'm speechless, and I can't explain what I'm feeling right now," Santo told CAFOnline.

"It's my first time here, but it has been a good experience so far. We're going to enjoy it game by game and try to do our best in the next one."

The 2024 runners-up will face Egypt on Saturday, 17 October at Complexe Prince Moulay Abdellah to decide who finishes top of Group B.

"We're going to try to finish first. It's a hard game, so we're going to work a lot. Egypt is tough, but we'll try to beat them and top our group," he said.

Tanzania's Awadh Juma said the Taifa Stars are treating the tournament as a learning experience after the heavy defeat on their first appearance at the Futsal AFCON.

"First of all, we thank God. This is our first time here, and we came to learn. The atmosphere was good, and we're still learning," said Juma.

"We've learned a lot. We now know futsal at this level is a hard game. We're still learning since it's our first time here. We learned from Egypt and we learned from Angola, and that's a good thing for us."

Juma praised the quality of both Group B heavyweights and said Tanzania will return home determined to improve their futsal and come back stronger.

"Angola and Egypt are good teams because they've played futsal for a long time. We're going to go back home and make sure we do well in futsal, and then we'll come back stronger."

Tanzania still have one group game left, and Juma said they will go all out to finish on a high.