Mali 2-1 Burkina Faso: Mali march on to the quarterfinals
Mali defied a late Burkina Faso fightback to earn themselves a quarterfinal tie against tournament hosts Ivory Coast.
An Edmond Tapsoba own goal at the start of the first half and a Lassine Sinayoko goal at the start of the second were enough for the win, despite a 57th minute Bertrand Traoré penalty.
Mali will now face hosts Ivory Coast in the quarterfinals, which promises to be an exciting clash.
The match couldn’t have started much better for Mali, who opened the scoring three minutes into the match.
Amadou Haidara powerfully met a dangerous cross from Hamari Traoré, his header then rebounded off the post and, before Tapsoba could react, the ball had come off his leg and gone into his own net.
An unfortunate moment for the Bayer Leverkusen star.
Mali did not take their foot off the gas after their early lead, dominating possession and looking the better team.
Kamory Doumbia was very close to making it two 24 minutes in, but his one on one was saved by Hervé Koffi.
The dangerous Sinayoko then led another Mali charge at the Burkina Faso defence, but his shot from the edge of the box was driven just wide of the left post.
Mali then started the second half as they did the first, making it 2-0 just over a minute into the second half.
Sinayoko broke down the right-hand side, opened his body up and finished through the legs of Koffi from a tight angle.
Burkina Faso were then awarded a route back into the game, when Boubakar Kouyaté was judged to have handled the ball in his own box after a VAR check.
Bertand Traoré stepped up for his third penalty of the tournament, and the Burkina Faso captain confidently made it three out of three in the 57th minute.
Mali held on for the rest of the match and escaped a late collapse when Issoufou Dayo’s header was ruled out by the offside flag.
NO GOAL ❌
Burkina Faso thought they had a late equaliser, but the offside flag was up! 😩 pic.twitter.com/NZ69LWoEeJ
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 30, 2024
What next for Mali?
Mali face the resurgent tournament hosts Ivory Coast in the Quarter Finals, who are off the back of a shock penalty shootout victory over reigning champions Senegal.
Despite a very disappointing group stage, which included a 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast is a tough draw for Mali. They will have the home crowd behind them and they possess Champions League quality players.
Mali meanwhile have been impressive throughout the tournament, topping their group in the group stages and looking the far better team against Burkina Faso. The home advantage held by Ivory Coast cannot be understated though.
Feature image credits: Ben Sutherland
