Burkina Faso’s squad (back L-R)
defender Patrick Malo, forward
Bertrand Traore, defender Issoufou
Dayo, defender Bakary Kone,
goalkeeper Herve Kouakou Koffi,
midfielder Charles Kabore, (L-R)
midfielder Abdou Razack Traore,
midfielder Alain Traore, defender
Yacouba Coulibaly, forward Jonathan Pitroipa and midfielder Prejuce Nakoulma pose for a group picture ahead of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations group A football match between Burkina Faso and Cameroon at the Stade de l’Amitie Sino-Gabonaise in Libreville on January 14, 2017. / AFP
PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS
Five facts for the Africa Cup of Nations Group A match between Gabon and Burkina Faso in Libreville on Wednesday (1600 GMT):
— The countries also met in Group A at the 2015 Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea with Gabon winning 2-0 through goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Malick Evouna.
— It ultimately proved a hollow
victory for the Gabonese as they came third and the Burkinabe last in a section from which Congo Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea qualified for the quarter-finals.
— Borussia Dortmund striker
Aubameyang went on to be crowned
the African Footballer of the Year in
2016, an honour no Burkina Faso
footballer has achieved.
— There was an individual award for
a Burkinabe star, however, at the 2013 Cup of Nations with winger Jonathan Pitroipa voted the outstanding player in South Africa.
— Burkina Faso finished runners-up
in that edition — the closest they have come to winning the biennial
tournament — while the farthest
Gabon progressed is the quarter-finals in 1996 and 2012.
