Come Sunday, February 19, it would be Nigeria against Burkina Faso in the grand finale of the 29^th Africa Cup of Nations holding in South Africa.

A few minutes ago, the Burkinabes – who incidentally emerged from the same Group C as Nigeria – survived 120 minutes of fireworks and the resultant penalty shootouts to pick the remaining final ticket after Nigeria had earlier guaranteed her appearance with a 4-1thrashing of Mali at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

The match between Ghana and less fancied Burkina Faso at Mbombela Stadium in turned out to be more difficult than expected. It was an encounter dominated by the Burkinabes, who however failed to find the winning goal. The Tunisian centre referee further compounded issues with his open bias in favour of the Ghanaians – apart from awarding them an undeserved 13^th penalty converted by Mubarak Wakaso, he unfairly cancelled what would have been the winning goal by the Burkinabes and capped it with the expelling of Jonathan Pitroipa after wrongly adjudging him of diving during extra time.

But it was the Burkinabes, who earlier equalised through Aristide Bance in the 60^th minute, that laughed last in the penalty shootouts that followed the one-all tie after 120 minutes after the Ghanaians missed two kicks and had a third saved by the goalie. In the end, Burkina Faso won 3-2 to make it to their first ever AFCON final.

Mali and Ghana will face off in the third-place match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

•Photo: For the Burkinabes, a deserved celebration.