Senegal survived a heart-wrenching penalty shootout to beat Burkina Faso 5-4 at the 19 May 1956 Stadium in Annaba on Sunday to make their first ever TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations final.
Skipper Amara Diouf made amends for himself, scoring the fifth and winning penalty for the Senegalese, after missing a regulation-time spot kick. Burkina Faso’s Souleymane Alio sent his kick crashing against the crossbar to hand the ticket to Senegal.
The game was forced to penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation time, Burkina Faso scoring the equaliser in 84th minute.
On penalties, Serigne Fallou Diouf, Pierre Dorival, Ibrahima Sory and Mamadou Sawane scored for Senegal then Diouf stepped up for the winner.
Before Alio’s kick that went against the bar, Emmanuel Ouedraogo, who had scored the late equaliser, slotted home for Burkina Faso with Arouna Ouattara, Idrissa Sore and Landry Yameogo scoring the next three.
Abdou Aziz Fall had given the Teranga Cubs the lead in the 15th minute. The midfielder slotted home with a low shot inside the box after Papa Ndiaye and Mamadou Sadio had seen their shots from inside the box brilliantly saved by the Burkina keeper Isidore Traore.
The goal came just four minutes after the Senegalese had dodged a bullet, Aboubacar Camara arriving just seconds late at the backpost running onto Ousmane Camara’s defence-splitting pass.
Burkina Faso were faster off the blocks, but conceding the goal hugely punctured their fight. After conceding, they struggled to get their feet back on. Senegal had a chance in the 22nd minute when skipper Amara Diouf stepped behind a freekick, but he curled his effort inches wide.
The first finalist is decided ?
— #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 2023 ?? (@CAF_Online) May 14, 2023
Senegal book their place in the 2023 #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 final ?? pic.twitter.com/CEj2PW0mwx
With a minute to the break, Burkina Faso almost drew level when Ousmane ran on to a cross from the left, but his glancing header was inches wide with the keeper beaten.
In the second half, Senegal should have sealed the victory, but skipper Diouf missed from the penalty spot.
Aly Sokondou had been adjudged to have handled the ball as he went to the floor to block Papa Ndiaye’s shot. The referee had to refer to the pitchside VAR monitor before he confirmed the penalty.
The miss hugely motivated Burkina Faso and they pressed Senegal in their own half. They were finally rewarded with six minutes left on the clock when Ouedraogo drilled home a low shot from the edge of the box.
Senegal summoned some late energy to try win the game at the death, but it had to be decided from penalties.