The victory over the Burkinabes came as a stunner considering the latter’s unbeaten run, which compelled most fans to tip them for the ultimate.
 
After three successive wins, the Burkinabes found their match in Algeria, who shattered their title aspirations with the lone goal victory backed by the home crowd.
 
With both teams sharing dominance in the opening half, Bendahmane struck the matchwinner against the run of play five minutes to half time.
 
The Burkinabes resumed strongly in the second half, but their attempts at drawing parity yielded no fruits with strikers Ouiya Jerome and Zoungrana Issouf coming close a few occasions.
 
Brazilian-born coach of Burkina Faso, Danton conceded defeat while acknowledging the tactical supremacy of the Algerians.
"Algeria deserved the victory. Their tactic was to prevent us from scoring and they succeeded in doing that.”
 
Algerian coach Ibrir Othmane described the victory as a bonus since their target was the World Cup. “This victory is a bonus; our target was the semi-final which guarantees World Cup qualification. We were tactically superior and the result is a true reflection.”
 
Before the final clash on Thursday, Burkina Faso will face Malawi in the third-place match tomorrow in Zeralda.

Source: caf