African Cup of Nations 2012: Burkina Faso 1 - 2 Angola
It might have looked the least spectacular of the first four games of this year's tournament, but this Group B match had a lot more entertainment value than most of the other three that preceded it. Ultimately it was the Angolans who emerged victorious and took their place at the top of the group, after goals from Mateus and a superb effort from former Manchester United striker Manucho gave them a 2-1 win over Burkina Faso. The first half was relatively quiet, with few chances carved out by either team against the backdrop of a chorus of drums and vuvuzelas in the stadium, with a determined Angolan defence shutting the doors on some strong midfield work by Alain Traore on several occasions and denying his team a scoring opportunity in the first 45 minutes. Manucho and Traore represented the main threats for their respective teams throughout the first half, and it was Angola who had played most of the better football of the half. But if Burkina Faso had someone within their team possessing a killer edge to link up with Traore's midfield work and offer a real goal-scoring threat, it could well have been they who could have had more chances. The second half started with the Angolans in the ascendency, and it was they who scored first, profiting from some comedy defending from Burkina Faso's Tall who should have cleared but chose to try and play it out of defence and lost the ball to Mateus who cut inside and shot past Diakite between the sticks. The goal injected the Angolans with confidence, and the manner of Tall's influence in it will have given them the scent of more goals, but it was the Burkinabes who scored next, after some good counter-attacking play, with Alain Traore stepping up to score a beautiful 25 yard free-kick. Just as Angola's goal reinvigorated them, Burkina Faso picked up their play following their equaliser with more purpose and a greater spark, but their good work was undone again just ten minutes later when Manucho scored a wonderful long-distance effort from outside the box against the run of play to put the Angolans' nose back in front. With just over twenty minutes left on the clock, the Angolans obviously decided to protect the result, sitting increasingly deep and more than happy to soak up the Burkinabe pressure and a couple of half-chances, including a Dagano header that never troubled the goalkeeper. As the minutes ticked away, time-wasting tactics started to creep in, leading to six minutes of added time as Angola sought to stifle any chance of a Burkinabe equaliser in any way possible. Ultimately an entertaining game ended in untidy fashion, peetering out towards the final whistle, and allowing Angola to pick up three points and head to the top of Group B above the Ivory Coast.