Burkina Faso meet Egypt in AFCON 2017 semifinal full of contrasts

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Burkina Faso may look like the surprise name in the last four of the African Nations Cup but they deserve their place with the big boys. Egypt though are record seven-times winners, writes Mark Meadows in Libreville.

The Stallions of Burkina Faso have never reached a World Cup finals. They keep their powder dry for the African Nations Cup where on Wednesday (8 p.m. local time and CET, 1900 UTC) they will take on Egypt in the semifinals.
Burkina Faso, despite a lack of footballing infrastructure compared to the likes of Egypt and fellow semifinalists Ghana and Cameroon, finished fourth in this tournament in 1998 after losing to the Egyptians and to everyone's surprise were runners-up in the 2013 edition.

This time they are aiming to go one better after being undefeated so far in the stifling heat at the 2017 championship here in Gabon.
"We are going to win against Egypt. I have been praying everyday and we will win," Sore Hamado, who along with over 100 others has been sent to Gabon by the Burkina Faso government as part of an official supporters club, told Reporter.
They beat former champions Tunisia 2-0 in the last eight and go into the Egypt semi in the capital Libreville in confident mood, despite having played almost the whole tournament without one of their top players Jonathan Pitroipa.

The former Freiburg and Hamburg forward, who was named the best player of the 2013 edition, suffered a knee injury in the second group game and was ruled out of the tournament. 
Prejuce Nakoulma came on for Pitroipa and immediately scored, while he also found the net against Tunisia.