Exit Burkina Faso as Belarus win the shoot-out
BELARUS BEAT Burkina Faso 3-0 in a shoot-out to reach the final of the King’s Cup football tournament in front of a handful of spectators at the Rajamangala National Stadium on Friday.
After being held scoreless at full time, the African nation, consisting mostly of local league players, showed their lack of experience in the shoot-out. Edmond Faycial Tapsoba and Armand Ismael Ouedraogo fired wide of the target while Bagbema Youssouf Barro’s shot was easily stopped by Belarus goalkeeper Uladzislau Vasiliuchak.
“It was a tough game for us to play against very strong opponents. I’m proud of my team to play well throughout the entire match under a tough condition,” said Belarus's national coach Ilya Belanovsky.
“We had more chances during the 90 minutes and we were very close at scoring but the goalkeeper of Burkina Faso did a great job,” he added.
Only a few hundred of fans showed up at the 60,000 capacity stadium for the game during a perceptible decline in the game’s popularity after the resignation of former national coach Kiatisak Senamuang and Thailand’s poor show in the World Cup Qualifiers.
The two sides engaged in a nail-biting battle right from start but neither came close to scoring. Belarus created their first chance in the 35th minute when Salavei Artsem blasted a shot from 18 yards only to be denied by Burkina Faso goalkeeper Aboubacar Sawadogo.
The East Europeans launched a series of raids into their rivals half after the break but Sawadogo fended off all shots.
Burkina Faso, who are ranked No 44 in the world, will play the losers of the match between Thailand and North Korea on Sunday at 4.30pm. The final will be played at 7.30pm.
