Burkina Faso beat Tanzania 2-1 at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca and claimed the first win in their history at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
It was their fifth match at a finals tournament. They played three in 2022 — one draw and two defeats — and had lost 4-1 to Ivory Coast four days earlier.
Adèle Kabré scored in the 43rd minute. Aisha Mnunka equalised in the 62nd, with Tanzania already a player down. And Balkissa Sawadogo, the captain, settled it in the 80th.
The sending-off did not change the match in the expected direction
Hasnath Ubamba was shown a straight red card in the 55th minute.
She is the forward who four days earlier had come off the bench to win the match against South Africa in the 87th. This time she started and was gone before the hour.
Tanzania equalised seven minutes after going down to ten. And from then on they had more of the ball than their opponents: 56% possession in the second half.
The two sides created the same
The final expected goals split was 1.73 for Burkina Faso and 1.72 for Tanzania. Possession finished 48-52 and completed passes 226 to 243.
The difference was accuracy. Burkina Faso had 18 shots and put six on target; Tanzania had 10 and hit the target twice. Territory separated them too: 28 touches in the opposition box to 6.
And expected assists suggest Tanzania built more than they took: 1.15 to 0.52.
The captain with the most chance and the least accuracy
Opah Clement finished with 0.75 expected goals, the highest figure of the twenty-seven players who took the field.
She had two shots, both from inside the box, and put neither on target. Earlier, in the 29th minute, a goal of hers had been ruled out for a foul.
Her team-mate Julitha Singano accounted for another 0.34 with a header that went wide.
Kabré and Sawadogo settled it with five shots
Kabré gathered more chance than anyone else in her side: 0.67 expected goals spread across three efforts. She scored the 1-0, and the feed charges that goal to an error by the Tanzanian centre back.
Sawadogo had two shots, both on target and both inside the box, and made it 2-1 in the 80th. She was substituted two minutes later.
Mnunka’s goal was the best-executed of the match. Her two shots were worth 0.31 expected goals; the one on target reached 0.94 once its placement was counted.
Fifteen clearances from Alimata Bélem
Alimata Bélem, the Eibar centre back, played the full ninety minutes and finished with fifteen clearances, more than twice as many as any other player on the pitch. She added three interceptions and did not commit a single foul.
In goal, Nina Yadi Dabilgou saw out the match she was not meant to play: she is the reserve, and she was there because Faoziatou Ouedraogo was serving a suspension for the red card she received against Ivory Coast.
The group is settled on head-to-head
Burkina Faso and Tanzania end the round level on three points, but the Burkinabè side sits above.
It is not on goal difference, which favours Tanzania by 0 to -2. CAF settles ties by applying the result between the sides involved first, and Burkina Faso have just won it.
Group B now stands as follows: Ivory Coast on four points, Burkina Faso and Tanzania on three, and South Africa on one.
The final round, on 4 August, pits Burkina Faso against South Africa and Tanzania against Ivory Coast. All four sides are still alive.