The Lions of Senegal won yesterday, November 14 at the 26-Mars stadium in Bamako, the shock of group L against the Stallions on the smallest of marks. Brama Traoré’s foals are now relegated to 2nd place in the group.
The Stallions, the emotions and adrenaline gone, can bite their fingers after their defeat (0-1) against the Lions of Téranga, yesterday November 14 in Bamako, in a match counting for the 5th day of the CAN 2025 qualifiers Because, they had opportunities throughout the 90 minutes of play to achieve a positive result in front of a large audience at the Stade du 26-Mars. With numerous withdrawals, a few days before this shock, the question that tormented people’s minds was how “Chercheur” was going to recompose his attack after the unavailability of captain Bertrand Traoré and Dango Ouattara? The Stallions coach opted for the tenure of Hassan Bandé and Ousséni Bouda in the corridors, with Franck Lassina Traoré as the leading attacker. Also, Brama Traoré decided to strengthen his midfield by starting the very hardworking Sacha Bansé, Saïdou Simporé and Cédric Badolo. In addition, in defense, Steeve Yago starts as left back alongside the three other usual starters: Edmond Tapsoba, Issoufou Dayo and Issa Kaboré. Brama Traoré’s objective before the start of the match is clear: to extinguish Senegal’s fiery attack made up of Sadio Mané, Nicola Jackson, Ismaila Sarr and Ilimanne N’Diaye.
The latter actually entered his match with his foot on the floor. He creates misery for the Burkinabè defense by his stalling. On one of them, he pierced the Burkinabè defense (6th), but his left-footed shot inside six meters was deflected for a corner by goalkeeper Farid Ouédraogo, very vigilant in this first period. The AS Vita club goalkeeper again defeats Ilimanne N’Diaye (9th) on one of his forays in the 9th. The Lions dominate the first quarter of an hour against the Stallions who play low. But, they narrowly missed being surprised by a Burkinabè counter-attack (11th), unfortunately Issa Kaboré’s diving header on a good ball from Hassan
Bandé is deflected for a corner by the Senegalese goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy. The last 30 minutes are made up of inaccuracies and lack of technical accuracy on both sides. Especially on the Stallions side with losses of balls from Hassan Bandé (32nd), Franck Lassina Traoré (34th) and Saïdou Simporé (42nd). However, captain Issoufou Dayo and his teammates finished the first period better by creating their second big chance of the match. On an excellent ball from Issa Kaboré, Hassan Bandé, facing Edouard Mendy, limply takes the ball from the arms of the Senegalese goalkeeper.
Wasted opportunities
The second half of the match resumes with the same system from both teams on the field and the same technical waste with domination by the Lions. The twirling Illimane N’Diaye is taken by two or three to limit his activation. The least we can say is that the most dangerous actions upon returning from the locker room are to the credit of the Burkinabè. First, Cédric Badolo (54th), although alone at the penalty point, goes above on a ball pushed back by Edouard Mendy, after a strong cross from Issa Kaboré on his right lane. Then, Hassan Bandé on an eccentric free kick (61st) at the entrance to the area, found the right post of the Senegalese cages. After this strong moment, the Brama Troéré foals suffered, but did not break. Better, they could have opened the score (80th) if Edouard Mendy had not saved his team on a
monstrous parade following a corner from Josué Tiendrébéogo entered on the hour mark.
Unfortunately, the Stallions end up folding (84th) on a quick action followed by a strike at the entrance to the penalty area from Mahamadou Diarra who beats Farid Ouédraogo. The Senegalese opening score is far from undeserved, but the Stallions can bite their fingers because of the four big chances so far in the match that they have not been able to materialize. A fifth will be missed again by Edmond Tapsoba (86th), when he had managed to erase Edouard Mendy, but was unable to straighten his ball in front of the empty Senegalese cages. The shock of Group L ends with Senegal’s victory over the smallest mark, enough to take the lead in the group. The Stallions played with their means, fought. However, they can have some regrets because they had situations to score at least one goal for this Téranga Lions team. In the other meeting of group L, the Hirondelles of Burundi and the Flames of Malawi were neutralized in Abidjan (0-0). The Stallions play their last qualifying match this Sunday, November 17 in Lilongwe against Malawi.
Síé Simplice HE
From Bamako