Kamou Malo’s Burkina Faso face Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations semifinals on Wednesday with a young team that has brought cheer to a country in turmoil under a local coach who has undertaken a remarkable rebuilding job.
Malo dedicated the Stallions’ quarterfinal victory over Tunisia “to our people who are being tested by current events” after a military coup in the country which is battling a jihadist insurgency.
Burkina Faso was suspended from the African Union on Monday and it cannot be easy for their players to remain completely focused on the objective of upsetting Senegal and progressing to the final.
Burkina Commercial Bank rewards #TeamBurkinaFaso around $85,500 for reaching semi-finals of the #AFCON2021
The Stallions will get an extra $171,000 from the Bank if they clinch the trophy.
CORIS Holdings also gave the team $171,000 ahead of tomorrow's game against #TeamSenegal pic.twitter.com/ta6YXAPCGB
— NUHU Adams (@NuhuAdams_) February 1, 2022
In the circumstances, having Malo, 59, at the helm may be especially precious right now.
Burkina Faso have reached the Cup of Nations final before, losing to Nigeria in 2013.
Then they were coached by the Belgian Paul Put, while when the Stallions finished third in 2017, the man in charge was Portugal’s Paulo Duarte.
It is common for African national teams to be led by a European, and two of the other three semifinalists in Cameroon have a Portuguese coach –- Carlos Queiroz and Toni Conceicao are in charge of Egypt and the hosts respectively, while Aliou Cisse is the Senegal boss.
In Burkina Faso, Duarte’s failure to lead the team to the 2019 Afcon persuaded the federation to change direction.
Malo, who calls himself “a born leader”, is different to many of his peers in more ways than one.
A bloggers wrote; Burkina Faso coach Kamou Malo doesn't trust his own son Patrick Malo as the defender is not fielded for games.
A fan replies: I think the coach values the interest of the country more than that of his son or family. pic.twitter.com/CZKBaqxO6A
— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) January 31, 2022
He is a retired police officer for a start, and there is no doubting his authority –- he included his son Patrick in the Cup of Nations squad but he has not featured since starting in the opening defeat by Cameroon.
“I was asked to rebuild but also lead the team to qualification. It was not an easy task for the novice and layman that I was then,” he told AFP.
Burkina Faso topped their qualifying group without losing and went unbeaten through qualifying for the World Cup despite having to play home games in Morocco.
They held Algeria twice, but just missed out to them for first place in the group and so will not be in Qatar.
