Intro
Burkina Faso and Senegal face off in the all West-African semi-final fixture at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Whatever the result, there will be at least one West-African country at the tournament's final match for the ninth consecutive edition.
Burkina Faso is playing in their fourth semifinal game at the AFCON finals but has won at this stage only once (2013), with their 1998 and 2017 appearances ending in the fourth and third positions respectively.
The Stallions are creating quite the reputation for themselves, reaching the semifinals on all the occasions they have progressed from the group stage.
The Teranga Lions are perhaps the biggest African country to not have won the prestigious AFCON trophy, coming a close second at the 2002 and 2019 editions.
Before now, Senegal has reached five AFCON semi-finals and they have lost three (1965, 1990, 2006) of those whilst also losing the third-place match all three times.
Form and Head-to-Head
At this stage of any tournament, it presupposes that both teams have been in good form to come this far, thus it might take a bit more than recent results to settle this fixture.
Irrespective, the Teranga Lions have been peerless and undefeated in this competition, with three victories and two draws so far. Their unbeaten run runs to their last 11 games.
Aliou Cisse's side has kept four clean sheets at AFCON 2021 so far, Equatorial Guinea's Jannick Buyla being the first player to breach their defence after 417 minutes of football in Cameroon.
Kamau Malo's Burkina Faso lost the tournament's opener against Cameroon but they have gone on from there to win three games and draw one at the tournament so far.
Built on a brand of soaking up pressure and springing swift counter-attacks, the Stallions have scored only one goal per game at AFCON 2021.
At the AFCON finals, Burkina Faso and Senegal have met on six occasions with the Teranga Lions winning twice, losing once and three of those fixtures ending in draws.
Date, Kick-off time, and Venue
The Burkina Faso Vs. Senegal fixture is scheduled to be held on Thursday, February 2 at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde by 8 pm Nigerian time.
Team News and Possible Line-ups
Burkina Faso will be without the services of their Round-of-16 matchwinner, Danjo Ouattara after the striker picked up a straight red card against Tunisia.
His absence could herald Bertrand Traore's return to the side for the match against their West African neighbours.
Djibril Ouattara is also a doubt for the game with an injury concern.
However, the Teranga Lions have a clean bill of health on all fronts including injuries, suspensions and coronavirus cases.
Burkina Faso Possible Starting XI: Herve Koffi; Issa Kabore, Soumaila Ouattara, Edmond Tapsoba, Steeve Yago; Adama Guira, Ibrahim Blati Toure; Gustavo Sangare, Cyrille Bayala, Bertrand Traore, Mohamed Konate.
Senegal Possible Starting XI: Edouard Mendy; Bouna Sarr, Kalidou Koulibaly, Abdou Diallo, Saliou Ciss; Idrissa Gana Gueye, Nampalys Mendy, Pape Gueye; Boulaye Dia, Famara Diedhiou, Sadio Mane
Prediction
The Teranga Lions would have their hands full trying to break down the Stallions compact defence but they must also be alert to the pace of the Burkinabes on the counter.
There would be little to separate both sides in this fixture so a 1-1 draw in regular time would take the game to penalties where Senegal will edge Burkina Faso.