The Stallions of Burkina Faso have qualified for the finals of the Africa Nations Cup for the first time in history after stunning much fancied Ghana with a 3-2 defeat in post match penalties in a match played on Wednesday evening at the Mbombela stadium.
After 120 minutes of a 1-1 draw, the two teams had to separate on penalties to decide who meets Nigeria in the finals of the 2013 edition. It was in the shootout that Ghana terribly fell to the Burkinabe.
Ironically Mubarak Wakaso scored the first goal of the semi-final from penalty spot to give Ghana the lead before a second half goal from Aristide Bance levelled matters and in the end saw Burkina Faso into their first ever AFCON final.
Burkina Faso enjoyed most of the possession in the opening periods of the game but it was Ghana who looked the more threatening side when going forward.
Seven minutes after kick off, the Black Stars suffered a massive set-back when they lost their right-back, John Panstil, who pulled up with a hamstring injury and had to be replaced by Solomon Asante.
Still, despite the reshuffling of the pack, Ghana did not let the disruption disturb their play and they earned a penalty five minutes later when the referee, perhaps harshly so, adjudged Mady Panandetiguiri to have pulled down Christian Atsu inside the box.
Mubarak Wakaso proceeded to step up and scored his third penalty of the tournament to give Ghana the lead in the semi-final, 1-0 and score his fourth goal of the competition.
After 32 minutes, Prejuce Nakoulma had a great chance to level matters when he also found himself in a one-on-one situation with the Ghanaian keeper, but he wildly fired his shot over the crossbar from 16-yards out
The second 45 saw Burkina Faso doing all the pressing early on as they went in search of the equaliser and they came close in the 53rd minute.
Man of the match Aristide Bance was left unmarked at a corner-kick, but he saw his powerful header from 12-yards out brilliantly saved by the Ghanaian keeper, using the underside of the post and his palm to avoid the goal being scored.
Five minutes later and Gyan was bitterly unlucky not to double his side’s lead when an early low cross from the right saw him strike the ball onto the right hand post from 14-yards out.
On the hour mark, Burkina Faso pressure paid dividends as they equalised through Arisited Bance.
A mistake in defence by Ghana saw Bance through on goal after a sublime pass from Charles Kabore, and the tall striker made no mistake with just the keeper to beat as he produced a clinical finish to level matters, 1-1.
Neither side could go on to find the winner in regular time as the match moved into extra time.
Burkina Faso then suffered a huge blow in the 117th minute as Pitroipa was shown his second yellow card for alleged simulation though replays showed there was contact and duly shown red, reducing his side to ten men.
Nonetheless, the game ended all square and we moved into the dreaded lottery penalty shoot-out.
Three missed penalties from Ghana by Isaac Vorsah, Emmanuel Clottey and Emmanuel Agyemang Badu saw Burkina Faso win 3-2 on penalties and into their first ever AFCON final.
Only Christian Atsu and Harrison Afful managed to convert from the 12 yards for Ghana. On the other hand, Aristide Bance, Bakery Kone and Traore netted.
Ghana will meet Mali in the third place play off on Saturday while Burkina Faso face off with Nigeria in the finals on Sunday.