Senegal put a string of disastrous Africa Cup of Nations campaigns behind them Thursday by beating Zimbabwe 2-0 and becoming the first qualifiers for the 2017 quarter-finals.

The Group B match was all but over as a contest after only 13 minutes in Gabonese city Franceville after Liverpool star Sadio Mane and Henri Saivet scored.

Since finishing fourth in 2006, the Senegalese have suffered a horror run in the premier African football competition, failing to get past the group stage three times and not even qualifying twice.

Now they are guaranteed to top Group B — whatever the result of their final fixture against battling Algeria next Monday.

Mane, seen as his country’s talisman and most potent threat going forward, was the star man and as long as he turns out performances like this then Senegal will remain hopeful of making a mockery of that woeful AFCON record in recent years.