Senegal have eased to a 2-0 victory over Zimbabwe to become the first team to book a place in AFCON 2017 knockout stages in style.

The Warriors were a pale shadow of the team that fought gallantly against Algeria in the opening match.

The Teranga lions took full advantage of their Physical presence bossing the Zimbabweans in the early exchanges of the match. 21 year old Keita Balde gave all sorts of problems to the Warriors with energy and full of energy.

Senegal only required 9 minutes to break the deadlock as Sadio Mane found himself in the right place to benefit from a Keita Balde’s low cross from the left slotting the ball into the back of the net from close range.

Five minutes later Henri Saivet superbly swerved a free kick just outside the box over the wall to double his side’s advantage beating a fully stretched Mkuruva in goals.

Despite falling behind, Zimbabwe had their moments during the first half, however the Senegalese appeared to have done their homework to mark out target man Khama Billiat out of the game.

Zimbabwe needed a fast start to the second half but Senegal continued to control the tempo of the contest with only Tatenda Mkuruva to thank who made several saves keeping the score line respectable.

The African top ranked team wasted no time in pushing for more goals as Keita Balde drilled a shot just over the crossbar before Sadio Mane came agonisingly close to finding the back of the net as he was denied by a stunning intervention from Mkuruva.

The Liverpool man wasted another chance as the game entered the closing stages but Senegal were more than content with just the two as they began their bid to win the tournament in fashion.