Key events
Peep! PEEEEP!! That’s half-time. Tapsoba’s early goal separates the sides at the break.
45+5 min: … and, predictably, blazed miserably over the bar.
45+4 min: Tapsoba brings down Doumbia, right in the centre of the pitch, perhaps 35 yards from goal …
45+2 min: Another Mali free-kick – that’s the 21st foul of this incredibly stop-start first half.
45 min: Four minutes of added time to play.
43 min: Haidara again lets fly, this time from 30 yards or more. It’s high and wide.
42 min: … zipped in but headed away.
41 min: Bertrand Traoré has the bit between his teeth since almost gifting Mali a second. He wins a free-kick on the right of the Mali box and is lining up to take it …
39 min: Hamari Traoré gets forward on a rare foray down the Mali right but the full-back sees his cross blocked.
37 min: The Stallions finally break out, through Traoré. Konate and Kabore combine to find Tapsoba, who spectacularly heads over. Again the offside flag goes up but that was slightly more promising for the underdogs.
34 min: Bertrand Traoré criminally gives the ball away on the edge of his own area but Doumbia slams his shot straight at Koffi. Seconds later Sinayoko squares low across the six-yard box with no teammate gambling. Burkina Faso are on the ropes here.
32 min: Back under way and Burkina Faso are snoozing. Doumbia jinks his way into a yard of space on the edge of the box and flashes a shot just wide. That was a let-off for the Stallions.
30 min: Cooling break time and Burkina Faso have some work to do.
28 min: Haidara slams an effort wide on the rebound, after Koffi beat away the impressive Sinayoko’s half volley.
26 min: Yellow card: Abdoul Tapsoba goes into the book after catching Haidara with an arm. A pretty soft booking but there have been a stack of petty fouls with which the referee is perhaps running out of patience.
25 min: There’s a VAR check as Mali look for a penalty but an offside flag puts pay to their hopes.
23 min: Huge chance for Mali! Sinayoko breaches the offside trap and a quick one-two puts Doumbia in. His low effort is well blocked by Koffi, when he really should’ve done better. The offside flag goes up to spare his blushes.
21 min: … Traoré’s low shot bobbles its way on target but it’s comfortable for Diarra.
19 min: Kabore heaves the ball into the Mali box but his cross is headed clear. If I was a Burkina Faso supporter I’d be a touch worried about their lack of creativity. They don’t really look to have much of a plan to break down this iron-clad Mali defence. They do have a set-piece though, 40-odd yards from goal …
17 min: Sinayoko ponders a shot from distance but opts against and Mali instead look to pass their way through. It comes to nought, but the Eagles have just grabbed a bit of control now.
16 min: Pass, pass, pass from Mali, as the game settles down for the first time and takes a breath.
13 min: Amadou Haidara in the centre of Mali’s midfield already looks the class act on the pitch. He feeds Adama Traoré, who lets fly from 25 yards, zipping his effort a few yards over the bar.
11 min: … it’s a decent ball in, Diarra is again in no man’s land but Dayo can’t quite get over the ball.
10 min: Yago storms down the Burkina Faso left and earns his side a corner …
8 min: It has been a frantic start. Definitely a few nerves on either side.
6 min: Chaos in the Mali area as Traoré swings in a free-kick from the right and Djigui Diarra fumbles an attempted claim. Brief hope for Burkina Faso, but the referee’s whistle goes for a slightly generous foul on the keeper.
5 min: A really odd goal that. Tapsoba seemed to be trying to cushion the ball back to his keeper, or perhaps trying to push it wide? Either way, the Leverkusen man got it all horribly wrong.
GOAL! Mali 1-0 Burkina Faso (Tapsoba 3 OG)
That didn’t take long! No messing about at the back from Mali. Niakaté launches a free-kick forward from deep and Mali are on the front foot. The ball is swung in from the right, Haidara thunders a header against a post and from the rebound Edmond Tapsoba loops the ball back past his own goalkeeper.
Peep! Off we go then.
The players are in the tunnel …
Geography and history
This is a very much a derby: Mali and Burkina Faso share a border – 1,325km of border in fact (so roughly eight times that of England and Scotland) – in the Sahel. They’ve not always been easy neighbours, a brief war breaking out in 1985, but are much closer these days and there was talk last year of the pair, along with Niger, forming a new political and monetary entity.
And providence has delivered a fitting venue for this clash. Korhogo and the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium sit in slap-bang in the middle of northern Ivory Coast, barely 100km from the borders of both Mali and Burkina Faso.
Route to the last 16
Mali topped Group E without really shining – a 2-0 win over South Africa was followed by a 1-1 draw with Tunisia and a 0-0 with Namibia – though a defensive record of just one goal conceded thus far is enviable. Burkina Faso’s tournament, meanwhile, has been marked by late drama – a 96th-minute winner in their opener against Mauritania, a 95th-minute equaliser for Algeria in their 2-2 draw, and even a 92nd-minute goal for Angola in a 2-0 defeat in the final group fixture.
The teams
Mali (4-4-2): D Diarra; H Traoré, Kouyate, Niakaté, Sacko; Camara, Coulibaly, Haidara, A Traoré; Sinayoko, Doumbia.
Burkina Faso (4-3-3): Koffi; Kabore, Dayo, E Tapsoba, Yago; Ouédraogo, Sangare, Touré; B Traoré, Konate, AF Tapsoba.
Preamble
Hello all and welcome to live coverage of match 43 in this fascinating edition of Afcon. All of a sudden the tournament feels like it has opened up for this pair. The exits of Senegal and Egypt from this half of the draw has given the route to the final a tantalising air. The winners here face the hosts Ivory Coast – who were abject in the group but so gutsy in beating Senegal on Monday – with either DR Congo or Guinea awaiting in the semi-finals. It really does feel like this is anyone’s tournament now.
So could it be the year that one of these two write their name on the trophy for the first time? Burkina Faso have a fine recent Afcon record, reaching three semi-finals in the past five editions. Mali, on the other hand, haven’t been that deep in the competition since 2013. Neither side really shone in the group stage but as Ivory Coast showed on Monday, it’s worth expecting the unexpected.
Kick off is at 5pm GMT.
