Two semi-final losers of the 2023 CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, Mali and Burkina Faso, will battle later today at 8:00 p.m. Nigerian time for bronze medal honors in the championship in the third-place match scheduled for May 19, 1956, in Annaba, Algeria.

The two nations qualified from Group C of the continental championship as leaders and runners-up,but respectively lost to Senegal and Morocco on penalties in the semi-finals of the tournament.

Burkina Faso lost to Mali 0-1 in one of its Group C matches before qualifying for the quarterfinals.

Burkina Faso seek revenge as they take on the Eagles of Mali with the #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 bronze medal on the line ????

Can they come out on top this time or will it be the double for Mali? ???? pic.twitter.com/rYh4tnARF0

— #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 2023 ???? (@CAF_Online) May 18, 2023

Speaking in a pre-match press conference, the Malian head coach, Soumaila Coulibaly, told Cafonline on Wednesday that;

“Winning bronze medal will lift their spirits as a consolation. The loss to Morocco in the semi-final hurts us a lot, but for me as a coach, and former player, I know that such can always happen to a good team in a competition. It hurts us because we felt we had a good chance to make the final.“

As for the Burkina Faso coach, Brahima Traore, he said:

“We have to finish in style. It was a big disappointment for us not to achieve the second of our targets which was to win the trophy. We couldn’t achieve that, and now we focus on winning another medal as a consolation for our efforts.”

Mali will be playing the third-place match for the third time in history after defeating Guinea 2-1 in 1995 and Cameroon 1-0 in 1999.

The last time Burkina Faso played a third-place match in the history of the CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations was in 2009.

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