Lassine
Sinayoko scored his third goal at the Africa Cup of Nations as Mali reached the
quarter-finals for the first time since 2013 by defeating Burkina Faso 2-1 on
Monday.
An
early Edmond Tapsoba own goal got Mali off to a great start in
the 1ast 16 tie and Auxerre's Sinayoko doubled the lead just
after half-time. Bertrand Traore reduced arrears from a penalty for
Burkina Faso, who had the ball in the net again only for Issoufou Dayo to be
ruled offside.
Mali, who have had two first round and
two last-16 exits since finishing third 11 years ago, face hosts Ivory
Coast in Bouake on Saturday with a semi-final place on the line. Shock
2022 World Cup semi-finalists Morocco meet South Africa in San-Pedro
later in the final last 16 match.
Premier
League duo Yves Bissouma of Tottenham Hotspur and Dango
Ouattara of Bournemouth both started on the bench for Mali and Burkina
Faso respectively. Mali made six changes from the side that fought a
0-0 draw with Namibia to top Group E, including a new four-man midfield.
Group D
runners-up Burkina Faso changed four of the side beaten 2-0 by Angola
with out-of-favour Aston Villa forward Traore the captain. This was
only the second Cup of Nations meeting between the west African neighbours with
Mali winning a group match 3-1 in Tunisia 20 years ago.
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