Tuesday January 30, 2024
Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium 8pm
The penultimate match of the round of 16 at The TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations is on this Tuesday with neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso battling for a spot in the last eight.
The two rivals are separated by just 650km which adds rivalry to the clash as either seek to set up a quarter final clash with host Ivory Coast who stunned champions Senegal.
To get here, Burkina Faso, 2013 losing finalists to Nigeria finished behind Angola in Group D having beaten Mauritania 1-0 on day one, drew 2-2 with Algeria but lost to the group leaders 2-0 in the final game.
For Mali, they started with a 2-0 win over South Africa in Group E before stalemates against Tunisia (1-1) and Namibia (0-0).
Premier League stars Bertrand Traore and Issa Kabore will be vital for the Stallions while the Eagles will hope star man Yves Bissouma shows up to stamp his authority in the middle of the pack.
Interesting Facts as collected by CAFonline.
§ Both Burkina Faso and Mali are making their 13th TotalEnergies CAF AFCON appearance.
§ Both nations have lost a TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Final.
Burkina Faso
In their previous 12 appearances, they have either been eliminated in the group stages (8 times) or at least reached the semi-finals (4 times) including the final defeat in 2013 (0 – 1 Nigeria).
Mali
This is Mali’s 13th appearance, and 9th in a row. No side has ever played as many games as Mali (54) at the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON without ever winning the trophy. Their best performance dates back to 1972 where they lost 3-2 in the final against Congo.
