Burkina Faso were a bit late in getting their team around for the WE8 era, but finally did so in time to take part in World Cup VI. For qualifying, they were drawn into a tough CAF Group B alongside Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Morocco, Egypt, and Algeria. Despite this being such a difficult group, Burkina Faso didn't seem to have any trouble getting on their feet early. They won their first ever international match 3-1 against Morocco and then went undefeated in the first half of qualifying, picking up 3 wins and 2 draws from their first five matches. They slowed down a bit in the second half of the campaign as they finally lost their first game on the 6th matchday to Morocco in a heated contest that ended 3-4. Two matches later they suffered their worst defeat to date, a 3-0 loss to Egypt. Those turned out to be the only setbacks though, as Burkina Faso still won 2 more games to surprisingly finish top of the group with 18 points, 2 points ahead of second place Morocco and 4 clear of third place Cote d'Ivoire. This qualified them to the World Cup automatically.

The team would have a tougher time in the finals. Drawn into Group G against England, Belgium, and Canada, Burkina Faso fancied their chances of advancing, but ultimately fell well short. A disappointing 1-2 opening loss to Canada proved to be too much when combined with the following 1-3 defeat to England. Burkina Faso finally earned their first ever World Cup point on the last matchday thanks to a scrappy 2-2 draw with Belgium. However, the lack of wins cost them and Burkina Faso bowed out as the last place team in the group.

New Era

When WEFA switched from WE8 to PES, Burkina Faso struggled to keep their team together and missed out on participating in the first two World Cups held during the "new era", World Cup VII and World Cup VIII. Eventually they did get enough players around and were reinstated into CAF in time to participate in African Cup I, the first ever African Cup.

African Cup I

For African Cup I, Burkina Faso were drawn into Group D along with Nigeria (the recent World Cup runner up), Tunisia, and Algeria. The Stallions lost their opening game away to Nigeria 2-0 but came back strong in their next match.

8-0

At home against Tunisia, who had also lost their first game 2-0 to Algeria, Burkina Faso were just looking to get back into the qualifying race and were hoping for a win. Previously, Burkina's largest competitive victory had been a pair of 3-1 wins over Cameroon and Morocco in World Cup VI Qualifying. Tunisia's worst loss had only been by 3 goals, in a 2-5 defeat to Morocco back in World Cup III Qualifying. With both teams struggling to find goals in their opening games, no one really expected this one to be too high scoring. Instead, it would become one of the highest scoring games in history, and the largest margin of victory ever recorded.

The match started off oddly, as Pitroipa dribbled into the box, but his defender stuck with him and forced him to go all the way to the touchline. Running out of room, he tossed out a prayer by hitting a low cross into the 6 yard box. It seemed that the Tunisian keeper, Kasraoui, would be able to make an easy save, but he missed the ball initially. Bance was there, but a Tunisian defender jumped in the way to prevent him from having an easy tap in. However, the ball wasn't cleared, and eventually got poked towards the goal. Kasraoui tried to fall on it, but his elbow inadvertently struck the ball and caused it to roll over the line. It was credited as an own goal against the keeper and Burkina Faso claimed the opening goal less than 2 minutes into the match (1:41 showed on the clock).

It turned out, that was just the beginning. Five minutes later and the ball was loose inside Tunisia's box again, this time on the other side of the goal. Bamogo got to the loose ball and tried to bring it back in, but was muscled off the ball by a defender. With the ball just sitting at the edge of the 6 yard box, Bance reacted faster than anyone else and quickly reached the ball and slammed it into the back of the net for the second goal in just the 7th minute. To make matters worse, a 15th minute attack down the right flank saw a defensive mixup in the box as Dagano moved to the penalty spot and his marker ran into a fellow Tunisian defender, which slowed him down just long enough to allow Dagano to get wide open. He received the ball, turned and, with no one marking him, easily picked out a corner to slot the ball into to make it 3-0.

Tunisia were so rattled by now that they completely lost their shape on defense and then conceded two more goals on breakaways as Burkina Faso sliced through the shattered backline. Dagano struck first after Pitroipa picked out Bance who one timed it perfectly in front of Dagano to spring him on the break. This was in the 20th minute, and then in the 28th it was Bance who just barely stayed onsides before a long through ball was sent in front of him. There were no Tunisian defenders even close as he dribbled in on the helpless keeper and then shot around him to make it 5-0.

As if that weren't bad enough, in the 33rd minute Pitroipa exploited a gaping hole left by the unorganized Tunisians in the midfield. He received a pass from Panandetiguiri and, with no one anywhere near him, took a shot from distance. The shot caught the keeper out as it sailed over his head and then dipped into the goal. It was 6-0 now!

Tunisia were grateful for the half time whistle to finally come, but the second half wouldn't be much better for them. Kabore wound up with the ball just inside the box only five minutes after the restart and while his shot was initially saved, it wasn't good enough for Tunisia and the rebound off Kasraoui's wrist had just enough momentum to continue carrying it across the goal line for the 7th goal in the 50th minute.

Possibly aware that they were staring a historic defeat in the face, as no team had ever lost by more than 7 goals in competitive WEFA play, Tunisia actually put up a decent fight for about 20 minutes. That only lasted until Pitroipa made a run down the flanks and then sent a dangerous cross into the box. Dagano tried to head in his hattrick goal, but it was snuffed out by the defense. The ball wasn't cleared though, only sent straight up in the air. When it came down Bamogo was waiting for it, and he got to it before the keeper could, easily heading it into the fairly open net as Kasraoui dove helplessly in vein attempting to stop it. And there it was, in the 73rd minute, Burkina Faso became the first team to ever score 8 goals in a WEFA competitive match.

The final whistle eventually sounded to confirm their place in the record books. Not only was 8 goals the most scored by any team, 8-0 was the largest margin of victory ever recorded, surpassing a handful of 7-0 wins from previous World Cup competitions.

Finishing Qualifying

The win rejuvenated Burkina Faso's qualifying campaign. They would go on to beat Algeria 3-1 in their next match and then somewhat redeemed their opening loss to Nigeria by drawing 1-1. Another 2-2 draw with Algeria put Burkina Faso in position to win the group with a rematch against Tunisia. This time around the game did not get out of hand, but Dagano and Bance both scored to win 2-1 and secure first place, one point ahead of Nigeria. Thus, Burkina Faso qualified to the first African Cup of Nations.

African Cup of Nations I

Burkina Faso were drawn into Group A in the main tournament, along with Angola, Cape Verde Islands, Congo, and Mozambique. Burkina Faso started slowly, settling for a 1-1 draw against Congo and then things quickly went downhill after losing 1-2 to Mozambique and then 1-4 to Cape Verde! A 3-3 draw against Angola saw the team with such high expectations bow out of the tournament without recording a single victory.

Roster

[Stub]

Competitions

World Cup I - World Cup V - Did Not Enter
World Cup VI - Group Stage
World Cup VII - World Cup VIII - Did Not Enter
World Cup IX - Group Stage

World Series - Did Not Enter

African Cup I - Group Stage
African Cup II - Did Not Qualify

Honors

None

Competitive Matches

vs Algeria: 3 W 2 D 1 L 9 GF 7 GA
Algeria 2 - 3 Burkina Faso (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Burkina Faso 1 - 0 Algeria (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Algeria 1 - 3 Burkina Faso (African Cup I Qualifying)
Burkina Faso 2 - 2 Algeria (African Cup I Qualifying)
Algeria 0 - 0 Burkina Faso (African Cup II Qualifying)
Burkina Faso 0 - 2 Algeria (African Cup II Qualifying)

vs Angola: 0 W 1 D 0 L 3 GF 3 GA
Burkina Faso 3 - 3 Angola (African Cup I Group Stage)

vs Australia: 0 W 0 D 1 L 0 GF 2 GA
Burkina Faso 0 - 2 Australia (World Cup IX Group Stage)

vs Belgium: 0 W 1 D 0 L 2 GF 2 GA
Burkina Faso 2 - 2 Belgium (World Cup VI Group Stage)

vs Cameroon: 2 W 0 D 0 L 4 GF 1 GA
Burkina Faso 3 - 1 Cameroon (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Cameroon 0 - 1 Burkina Faso (World Cup VI Qualifying)

vs Canada: 0 W 0 D 1 L 1 GF 2 GA
Burkina Faso 1 - 2 Canada (World Cup VI Group Stage)

vs Cape Verde Islands: 0 W 0 D 1 L 1 GF 4 GA
Burkina Faso 1 - 4 Cape Verde Islands (African Cup I Group Stage)

vs Congo: 0 W 1 D 0 L 1 GF 1 GA
Burkina Faso 1 - 1 Congo (African Cup I Group Stage)

vs Cote d'Ivoire: 1 W 3 D 0 L 7 GF 5 GA
Cote d'Ivoire 2 - 2 Burkina Faso (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Burkina Faso 2 - 2 Cote d'Ivoire (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Cote d'Ivoire 0 - 2 Burkina Faso (World Cup IX Qualifying)
Burkina Faso 1 - 1 Cote d'Ivoire (World Cup IX Qualifying)

vs Egypt: 1 W 1 D 2 L 5 GF 9 GA
Burkina Faso 1 - 1 Egypt (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Egypt 3 - 0 Burkina Faso (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Burkina Faso 2 - 4 Egypt (African Cup II Qualifying)
Egypt 1 - 2 Burkina Faso (African Cup II Qualifying)

vs England: 0 W 0 D 1 L 3 GF 1 GA
Burkina Faso 1 - 3 England (World Cup VI Group Stage)

vs Italy: 0 W 0 D 1 L 1 GF 2 GA
Burkina Faso 1 - 2 Italy (World Cup IX Group Stage)

vs Morocco: 1 W 0 D 1 L 6 GF 5 GA
Morocco 1 - 3 Burkina Faso (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Burkina Faso 3 - 4 Morocco (World Cup VI Qualifying)

vs Mozambique: 0 W 0 D 1 L 1 GF 2 GA
Burkina Faso 1 - 2 Mozambique (African Cup I Group Stage)

vs Nigeria: 1 W 1 D 0 L 3 GF 1 GA
Nigeria 0 - 2 Burkina Faso (African Cup I Qualifying)
Burkina Faso 1 - 1 Nigeria (African Cup I Qualifying)

vs Senegal: 0 W 2 D 0 L 2 GF 2 GA
Burkina Faso 1 - 1 Senegal (African Cup II Qualifying)
Senegal 1 - 1 Burkina Faso (African Cup II Qualifying)

vs South Africa: 0 W 1 D 1 L 0 GF 4 GA
Burkina Faso 0 - 4 South Africa (World Cup IX Qualifying)
South Africa 0 - 0 Burkina Faso (World Cup IX Qualifying)

vs Togo: 2 W 0 D 0 L 4 GF 2 GA
Burkina Faso 1 - 0 Togo (World Cup IX Qualifying)
Togo 2 - 3 Burkina Faso (World Cup IX Qualifying)

vs Tunisia: 3 W 1 D 0 L 11 GF 1 GA
Burkina Faso 8 - 0 Tunisia (African Cup I Qualifying)
Tunisia 1 - 2 Burkina Faso (African Cup I Qualifying)
Tunisia 0 - 1 Burkina Faso (World Cup IX Qualifying)
Burkina Faso 0 - 0 Tunisia (World Cup IX Qualifying)

vs United States: 0 W 0 D 1 L 0 GF 1 GA
Burkina Faso 0 - 1 United States (World Cup IX Group Stage)

Last modified: ?9?/?14?/?2014? ?9?:?11?:?01? ?AM