Burkina Faso is ready to take another step in this edition of the African Cup after being runners-up in 2013, third in 2017 and fourth in 2021, although it now begins the journey to the final stage which will be held from Saturday in Costa of Ivory with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Mauritania.
The goal that decided the match played in Bouaké did not come until the sixth minute of added time and this resulted in the conversion of a penalty taken by Bertrand Traore.
Traoré came in and decided
Hubert Velud, The coach of Burkina Faso, brought the Aston Villa striker half an hour before the end of the match and the captain of the ‘colts’, after being knocked down from behind by Issa Kaboré in place of Mouh Mohamed El Abd, converted the decisive penalty in the last breath.
Moroccan referee Jalal Jayed He didn’t call a foul initially, but after VAR intervention he pointed it correctly.
Burklina Faso, leader
The victory in the extremis allowed Burkina Fasso to put itself at the top of group D with three points ahead of Algeria and Angola, who added one after the draw between the two set up their clash on Monday ( 1-1).
Despite coming with many difficulties, it was a historic victory as it was the first achieved by Burkina Faso in its debut at an African Cup after twelve failed attempts in its many other participations in the tournament.
15 consecutive tournament scoring matches
In addition, Burkina Faso continues a great streak that has seen it score in each of its last 15 African Cup matches, the second-longest in the tournament’s history after Egypt found the net in 27 consecutive matches between 1957 and 1980.
Burkina Faso dominated possession, although Mauritania created the best chances, failing through the excellent reflexes of goalkeeper Herve Koffi.
The Belgian Charleroi goalkeeper made an impressive save after a free kick from Idrissa Thiam, while Hemeya Tanji also tested him with a volley a few meters from him.
Mauritania, shocked by the goal
Mauritania Aboubakar Kamara disappeared, former Fulham striker, injured midway through the first half in a bad fall after a jump, but continued to create the best chances and Koffi lighted up again to divert a shot from Amar Sidi Bouna from the edge of the area.
If Burkina Faso is infallible against goals in the African Cup, the opposite is true for Mauritania: Mauritania has not scored for almost 10 hours since El Hacen’s penalty against Mali in their first match of the 2019 edition.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
