ACTUALITE |
21.01.2002
Burkina Faso surprises South Africa
Underdogs Burkina Faso managed to hold pre-tournament favorites South Africa, to a goalless draw on Sunday night.
It was the first upset in four matches played in the competition.
The first half was very entertaining, with scoring opportunities at both ends of the field.
South Africa’s Delron Buckley had a golden opportunity in the fourth minute with a well-struck freekick that just missed the post. His side was weakened 14 minutes later when captain Shaun Bartlett was injured and had to be replaced by Bradley August.
Burkina Faso began to dictate the pace late in the second half, with Dagano nearly scoring the opener four minutes from the break, only to see South African defender Bradley Carnell clear the ball off the line.
The second half continued where the first had left off with both sides playing attacking football. Burkina Faso brought on to young players in Austrian-based Wilfried Sanou and Alassane Ouedraogo, who plays for FC Cologne in Germany who pressured the South African defense.
The best chance of the second half fell to the Bafana though, as South African substitute Siyabonga Nomvete nearly created a goal for his side two minutes after coming on, when his cross found another substitute, Thabo Mngomeni.
It was a dramatic come-back for Mngomeni, who has not played competitive football for several months after being suspended for several months after being found guilty of causing a domestic league game to be abandoned.
After four minutes of injury time, referee Ndoya Falla sounded the final whistle, only to be confronted by angry South African players complaining that he had stopped the match in the middle of a Bafana attack.
The group’s other two teams, Morocco and Ghana, face each other on Monday. The top two teams in the group advance to the quarterfinals.
In other matches played on Sunday, Egypt lost 0-1 to Senegal in Group D, while defending champions Cameroon started their title defense with a 1-0 victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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