Congo-Brazzaville booked a place in the quarter final round of the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) after registering a 2-0 win over Burkina Faso in a Group D match played on Saturday night at Stade Adrar,Morocco.
Goals from Carof Bakoua on the 67th minute and Kader Bidimbou in the 90th minute were enough to help Congo amass six points with a match in hand against Cameroon which will be played on Wednesday.
Burkina Faso have taken just one point so far while Angola are second with four points. The other team in the group is Cameroon who are without a point at the tournament for locally-based players only.
The Les Diables Rouges were obviously the better side in the first half though Burkina Faso also hit back with three crucial chances evading them.
Jaures Ngombe’s free kick flew over the bar after Mousa Sory had brought down a Congo striker at the edge of the area to be elusive.
Natahalio Kapaore was the main guilty party as he missed two excellent chances in the first half.With the very few chances created by both sides was no surprise that it was 0-0 at the interval.
Congo started the second half still on a high with Carof Bakoua missing a chance in the 47th minute after dancing through the Burkina’s defence before eventually losing the ball from a Varel Rozan cross.
The Les Diables Rouges finally broke the deadlock on 67 minutes through Bakoua who fired home from close after Abdoulaye Sawadogo had spilled Varel Rozan’s free kick on his path.
Sawadogo was again forced off his line ten minutes from time to clear Makiesse’s effort and making himself big in front of Junior Loussouko who shot straight at him.
Red lights started flashing for Congo for the last quarter with Burkina Faso going close to scoring twice within six minutes.
With just one minute remaining on the clock Congo’s sealed the win when substitute Bidimbou headed home a pinpoint cross from Junior Makiesse to secure a place in the quarter finals.
“I am very happy with this victory which allows us to validate our ticket for the quarterfinal. I congratulate the players for this victory and efforts during the match,” said Congo coach Barthelemy Ngatsono.
“It was not easy because Burkina Faso prevented us from playing our real game. I’m happy because in 2014, we were eliminated in the first round and this marks an improvement.
