Holders Ivory Coast Cruise Past Burkina Faso to Reach AFCON Quarter-Finals

Ivory Coast’s defence of their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title is gathering momentum after they comfortably beat Burkina Faso 3-0 in the last 16, meaning they have now won six of their last eight internationals (D1, L1).

Burkina Faso had the first shot on target when Saïdou Simporé’s effort from distance was gathered by Yahia Fofana. However, Ivory Coast took control from that point, with Amad Diallo twice firing off target and captain Franck Kessié curling over.

Still, the reigning champions could have fallen behind when Cyriaque Irié’s driven cross went behind Fofana, but it also evaded forward Lassina Traoré.

Les Éléphants eventually opened the scoring in the 20th minute, though, when Evann Guessand outmuscled Adamo Nagalo and fed Amad, who wriggled inside Edmond Tapsoba and dinked the ball over Hervé Koffi. 

After VAR had cleared Guessand’s challenge, Emerse Faé’s men then doubled their advantage when Yan Diomande - who had just missed a chance - finished with aplomb after receiving Amad’s square pass that had been left cleverly by Kessié. 

Not long afterwards, Guessand passed up the opportunity to make it 3-0, dithering after he had driven into the box, while at the other end, Brentford’s Dango Ouattara hit the woodwork to remind Ivory Coast that they could not afford to be complacent.

Burkina Faso had an uphill task ahead of them, however, with head coach Brama Traoré taking off the already-booked Nagalo and introducing Blati Touré just before half time. 

Georgi Minoungou was also brought on ahead of the second half for the 2021 AFCON semi-finalists, and although they remained in the encounter, they didn’t noticeably improve, with Guéla Doué the next to go close for the Ivory Coast as he flicked over the bar from Diomande’s free-kick.

Ultimately, the reigning champions made safe of the win in the closing stages as teenager Bazoumana Touré dispossessed Bertrand Traoré and ran the length of the field before firing home for a superb solo goal.

As a reward for this triumph, Faé’s outfit face Egypt in a mouthwatering quarter-final on Saturday, while Burkina Faso exit the tournament at this stage for a second successive edition.