Egypt Defeats Burkina Faso, Qualifies For 2017 AFCON Final

Egypt’s goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary celebrates after his two saves turned the penalty shootout his team’s way. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

Egypt successfully managed to book a place in the final of the 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), after a well-deserved win over its rival team Burkina Faso in the penalty shootout.

AS Roma’s Mohamed Salah scored the first goal in the 65th minute of the match. However, Burkina Faso’s player Aristide Bancé scored shortly after, the first goal in Egypt’s goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadary since the inauguration of the contest. The two teams failed to score more goals in the original time and in the extra time, they had to play five penalty kicks.

The final match of the 2017 AFCON is set to be played on Sunday, in which Egypt will face either Ghana or Cameroon, depending on which team will win on Thursday and secure a ticket to the final.

Prior to Burkina Faso’s match, Egypt played four other games in which it won three of them defeating Ghana, Uganda and Morocco and tied against Mali.

Egypt is the most successful nation in the cup’s history with seven titles, followed by Ghana and Cameroon that have four titles each.  Burkina Faso never won the AFCON.

However, it is the first time Egypt participates in the biennial contest since 2010 as it was failing to advance to be among the 16 competing nations.