Surprise package of the Africa Cup of Nations 2017, Burkina Faso stunned Ghana to finish third as Alain Traore's late strike gave the former a huge win on Saturday (February 4). This was Burkina Faso's second best result in AFCON history as they had finished runners-up in 2013.
Ghana might have been looked upon as favourites to clinch third place, but Burkina Faso did not give up anytime during the match, which has been their major hallmark in the competition. Both the teams looked good, but it was the stunning free-kick from Trarore, which broke Ghana players' hearts. The player found the back of the net in the 89th minute, just when one thought that the 90 minutes would not produce a single goal.
Ghana coach Avram Grant had made some changes for this clash, deciding to bench key players like Christian Atsu and Andre Ayew, which was quite surprising. But, his opposite number Paulo Duarte, who had already earned praise for his team's performance in Afcon 2017, decided to go with the best XI.
The first real chance of the game came to Emmanuel Agyemang Badu, who could not head the ball on target in the third minute. Ghana were the team who threatened to score. However, Burkina Faso, who did see decent ball, did not have many chances to score in the first 45 minutes.
Ghana continued their offensive threat in the second half as well, and they threatened to take an early lead with some shots on goal. However, as the game progressed, Ghana were getting frustrated, failing to score. Despite some brilliant attacking plays from Ghana, it was Burkina Faso who broke the deadlock with a goal to remember from Traore, who curled it venomously in the top corner from a difficult angle.
That late strike from Traore in the 89th minute proved to the winning goal for Burkina Faso, who were on cloud nine after the final whistle.
