Nigeria play Burkina Faso Sunday in a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations final that was unthinkable when the tournament kicked off in mid-January. The Nigerian Super Eagles did not even qualify for the 2012 championship in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea and few outside the vast west African state gave them a chance of getting beyond the last eight this time.
But if the presence of Nigeria at the 90,000-seat Soccer City stadium in Soweto will be a shock - the appearance of the Burkinabe Stallions is nothing less than sensational. Virtually the same group of footballers were sent packing after the first round last year having lost all three games and they arrived in South Africa embarrassed by a 17-match winless run spanning 15 years.
Now, teams who drew 1-1 in the opening round of Group C, with since-injured Alain Traore levelling four minutes into stoppage time for the Burkinabe, clash again for a $1.5 million prize and a 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup place. The victors took starkly contrasting routes through the semi-finals with Nigeria scoring twice in six minutes to set up a 4-1 thrashing of Mali in Indian Ocean city Durban. Burkina Faso won 3-2 on penalties against Ghana in north-eastern city Nelspruit after a controversial 1-1 draw with the winners conceding a harshly-awarded penalty, having a goal disallowed, and a man sent off.
Jonathan Pitroipa offered Burkina Faso so much with his pace down the flanks, but he misses the final after getting a second yellow card for simulation when big-screen replays showed he had been fouled. Belgium-born Burkina Faso coach Paul Put pulled no punches: "The refereeing decisions were scandalous. We have lost Pitroipa for the final - he is very important to us. Winning captain Charles Kabore added: "The referee is human - all humans make mistakes - but he happened to make too many tonight. We are not going to dwell on that, we have qualified."
Ghana captain and striker Asamoah Gyan admitted: "The better side won on penalties. We are all really sad - that is normal - but we have to psyche ourselves up for the third place play-off with Mali." Nigeria exposed a slow Mali defence to lead 3-0 by half-time through goals from Elderson Echiejile, Brown Ideye and Emmanuel Emenike, whose effort may be reviewed by the organisers as it took a massive deflection off Momo Sissoko.
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