Brave Burkina Faso take a shot at glory against fancied Nigeria in final

Burkina Faso care less whether they win today or not.

The team captain Charles Kabore says they will work towards lifting the African title but they will not worry if they lose to Nigeria in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations Sunday at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg this evening.

“Winning was the wildest of our dreams. Now we are in the final and we believe we can achieve something. We can be champions and that’s what we want,’’ he said.

Kabore has been an inspirational figure in the stallions team in their run up to the finals, their first ever finals after they beat fancied Ghana to reach to this stage.

“We are in cloud nine. If we win, it will be something else,’’ he added.

Jonathan Pitroipa, Burkina Faso’s most talented player, has been cleared to play after Tunisia referee Slim Jdidi confessed he had errered in showing the forward a second yellow card when he adjudged him to have dived late in the second-half of extra time.

Burkinabe impress

Burkina Faso have been impressive in their group stages, drawing with both defending champions Zambia and Nigeria and beating Ethiopia to surprisingly qualify for the quarter-finals where they beat Togo and later eliminated Ghana in the quarter finals against all odds.

“We are here because we deserve to. We have been at the top of our performance all through,’’ said Paul Put, Burkina Faso coach.

Burkina Faso will also be seeking to win their first ever African title if they beat Nigeria.

At the same time, Nigerian Stephen Keshi is on the verge of becoming only the second person to collect Africa Cup of Nations gold medals as a footballer and a coach.

The first to achieve the feat was the late Egyptian Mahmoud El Gohary, who helped his country defeat Sudan 2-1 in the 1959 final and guided the Pharaohs to a 2-0 victory over South Africa 39 years later.

Former player

A towering centre-back, Keshi skippered the Super Eagles to a 2-1 victory over Zambia in an emotional 1994 final with the losers fielding a team rebuilt one year after the national squad was wiped out in a plane crash off Gabon.

Keshi had far less success, at first, as a coach at the premier African football tournament, failing to get Togo (2006) or Mali (2010) beyond the opening round.

The failures cost him the posts, with the first sacking particularly painful as it prevented him going to the 2006 World Cup in Germany having taken minnows Togo through a difficult qualifying campaign.

Keshi was appointed coach of Nigeria — one of the hottest coaching seats in African football — after former international teammate Samson Siasia was fired for failing to reach the 2012 Cup of Nations.

After decades of reliance on foreign-based professionals, Keshi decided the best domestic talent also deserved a chance, and the move reaped handsome dividends in a shock quarter-final win over title favourites Ivory Coast.

Midfielder Sunday Mba from Enugu Rangers carried the ball beyond several would-be tacklers before unleashing a shot that took a deflection as it looped over goalkeeper Boubacar Barry and into the net for the match-winner.

Many hyper-critical Nigerians had watched the team only draw with Burkina Faso and Zambia in the group stages and felt Keshi was just another in a long line of coaches who promised a lot more than they delivered.

A win over Ethiopia in the final group game marked an upward turn, the victory over Ivory Coast silenced the critics, and the four-goal semi-final thrashing of Mali made the Super Eagles favourites for a third title.

While immensely proud of the class of 2013, Keshi is quick to dismiss any comparison with the team he captained to glory 19 years ago at the El Menzah Stadium in Tunis.

“The 1994 squad was unbelievable. We were brothers, there was a great spirit in the team. Now there is talent, but we need a strong mentality and character,” he said.

Born in Lagos 51 years ago, Keshi made his playing debut for local club ACB and also spent time with New Nigerian Bank, and Stade Abidjan and Africa Sports in Ivory Coast, before heading for Europe.

He joined Lokeren in 1986, moved to much bigger Belgian club Anderlecht a year later and also lined up for Strasbourg in France before returning to Belgium and a contract with Molenbeek. His playing career wound down with spells in the United States and Malaysia.

(Additional reporting by AFP)