It was a routine victory for Burkina Faso as they rolled past a Djibouti side that offered little resistance for a 2-0 result in Marrakech, Morocco on Monday in FIFA World Cup qualifying. Captain and defensive stalwart Issoufou Dayo opened the scoring before Abdoul Tapsoba scored his third goal of the week to achieve the expected result for Les Étalons, who were further aided by a straight red card in the 67th minute. Burkina Faso move to first place in Group A for the time being and await the result of Algeria’s match at Niger on Tuesday to see if they will remain at the top.
In a similar manner to the meeting earlier this week, it took a while for the Stallions to get going in attack and break down the Djiboutian side. Gustavo Sangaré acted as the main creative outlet in the absence of Aston Villa’s Bertrand Traoré along with Zakaria Sanogo, and the two started to create opportunities towards the end of the opening half.
At the end of the half hour mark, Sanogo took a pass from attacking right back Issa Kaboré and lobbed in an arching cross that found Dayo for an excellent looping header that beat Innocent Hankuye in the Djibouti goal for the opener. Sanogo nearly got on the scoresheet himself several minutes later when Sangaré weaved down the left flank and put in a cross for the FC Ararat-Armenia attacker, who sent his shot just over.
Abdoul Tapsoba, who continues to establish a firm role for himself in the Burkinabé side, contributed his fourth goal of the qualifying campaign in the 64th minute. Sanogo got free on the right wing and passed inside to the 20-year-old, whose first shot attempt was saved by Hankuye but went right back to Tapsoba who made no mistake on the rebound.
The match was all but over a few minutes later when an off-ball incident led to a red card for Djibouti that put the minnows down to ten players. Tapsoba attempted to make a run down the right flank but was caught in the mouth by a Djiboutian defender, leading to the referee giving a straight red card. On the replay the call appeared to have been a bit harsh with both players engaging in physical play.
Highlights of the match are in the link below.
