Burkina Faso staged a remarkable fightback from two goals down to defeat highly-fancied Cote d’Ivoire 4-2 at the WAFU B U17 Championship on Saturday.
Two goals by Ousmane Camara helped the Young Stallions to complete the turnaround after going two goals down in the first half.
Captain Farouk Ouattara scored an amazing goal to restore hope for the Burkinabes after the break before Camara’s heroics put them in the lead.
Adramani Fareouz Ouedraogo’s strike late in the game completed the turnaround in the six-goal thriller that kept fans at the edge of their seats.
The result was enough for both sides to advance to the semi-final of the competition in Cape Coast as the result of the other Group B match favoured the Baby Elephants.
The Ivorians managed to seal their place in the last four after the already-eliminated Niger shocked Benin by defeating them 3-1 in the other game played simultaneously in Elmina.
Going into Saturday’s matches in the Ghanaian coastal city, only Niger was eliminated having lost their opening two matches leaving all the three remaining sides in the group with a chance of advancing to the semi-finals.
But the Baby Menas were keen on leaving the tournament on a high and they delivered that when they stunned Benin to push them to the bottom of the group.
The result means Burkina Faso finish top of Group B with the Ivorians sealing the second spot while Niger and Benin are eliminated after finishing third and fourth respectively in the group.
With Nigeria finishing top of Group A they will play Cote d’Ivoire in the first semi-final on Tuesday before Group B winners Burkina Faso take on hosts Ghana later in the evening.
The winners of Tuesday’s game will advance to the final and also clinch their places at the TotalEnergies 2023 U17 Africa Cup of Nations to be played in Algeria next year.
Wafu B U17 semi-final fixtures
Semi-final 1: Nigeria vs Cote D’Ivoire (16:00 GMT)
Semi-final 2: Burkina Faso vs Ghana (19:00 GMT)
Source: CAF