BURKINA Faso head coach Brahima Traore has commended his players for fulfilling their promise following their 2-1 victory over Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets in the quarter-finals of the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria.
Burkina Faso beat a wasteful Nigeria side at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers to advance to the U-17 AFCON semi-finals and earn a spot in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The Junior Stallions survived early pressure from the Golden Eaglets before Aboubacar Camara scored in either half to hand them the important victory, and Traore praised the youngsters’ performance afterwards.
“It was a heroic match and our players gave everything they had. Qualifying for the semi-finals and the World Cup was one of our goals from the beginning,” he said during his post-match interview.
“We had promised the Federation and the Burkinabe people that we would seek to achieve this and also go for our second AFCON title.”
The Burkinabes began the tournament on a sour note with a defeat to Mali, and Traore is proud of the ability to bounce back from that early setback.
“After our first loss against Mali we were under pressure but we managed to calm down and get back on track to win against Cameroon and then Nigeria who are both considered as favorites in this competition,” he added.
Traore explained that motivation from back home, where fans are closely following their matches, has become an extra motivation for the players to do well.
Burkina Faso will face title favourites Senegal in the semi-finals in Annaba on Sunday.
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