Burkina Faso begins their CAF Cup of Nations, AFCON 2023 campaign on Tuesday when they trade tackles with Mauritania in their Group D fixture at the tournament in Cote d’Ivoire.
Ahead of the match, let us take a look at some key facts and figures about the two sides:
This will be the first game between Burkina Faso and Mauritania at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
This is Burkina Faso’s thirteenth appearance in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations. In their previous twelve participations, they have either been eliminated in the group stages, eight times or at least reached the semi-finals four times, including the final in 2013 ending 0-1 against Nigeria.
Burkina Faso are not beaten in their last four meetings with Mauritania in all competitions, they won two and drew two games. Mauritania’s last victory was in September 2018, it was a CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifier ending 2-0 played on home soil, in Nouakchott.
Burkina Faso have never won their opening match at an AFCON tournament, they drew five and lost seven.
Mauritania’s only goal so far at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations was a penalty by Hacen against Mali in their first-ever AFCON match back in 2019. Since then, Mauritania hasn’t found the net in 468 minutes of play at the tournament, that’s nearly 8eight hours.
Burkina Faso has scored in each of their last 14 matches at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations; it’s the longest active streak and second longest in the history of the tournament after Egypt found the net in 27 consecutive matches between 1957 and 1980.
This is Mauritania’s 3rd appearance at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, all of them taking place since 2019. They have finished bottom of their group in each of their two previous participations.
The duo of Aboubakar Kamara and Hemeya Tanjy scored 56% of Mauritania’s goals in the qualifiers for the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations ( three and two goals respectively, out of a total of nine team goals excluding the goal scored in the game that was later awarded to DR Congo).
Mauritania has never won a match at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, drew two, and lost four. They have also never been ahead at any point in a game at AFCON.
Burkina Faso striker Dango Ouattara was directly involved in 63% of his team’s goals during the qualifiers for this year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations, scoring four and assisting one.