Burkina Faso head coach Brahima Traore has praised his players for what he termed as a heroic performance, beating Nigeria 2-1 in Algiers to qualify for the semi-finals of the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), and by extension securing a ticket to the World Cup.
The Junior Stallions sustained early pressure from the Golden Eaglets before Aboubacar Camara scored in either half to hand them the victory.
“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. 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 tactician said after the match.
He added; “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.”
Traore added 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 now switch their attention to a tough semi-final against Senegal in Annaba on Sunday.
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