Burkina Faso claimed a thrilling 3-2 win over Algeria in the first leg of their 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifying playoff tie at the the Stade du 4-Aout in Ouagadougou on Saturday evening.
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The Stallions, however, needed a controversial late penalty from Aristide Bance to claim the victory against a Desert Foxes side that arguably deserved at least a draw for their efforts and will be determined to turn the tie around in the return leg in Blida next month.
The home side suffered a major blow early in the game when key defender Bakary Kone limped off with injury. The Burkinabe shuffled their cards at the back by introducing Steeve Yago off the bench in the eighth minute.
The North Africans were nearly able to take advantage of their opponent’s disrupted backline early on, with Islam Slimani and El Arabi Soudani having a couple of decent chances from which they should have put the Algerians ahead.
Burkina Faso gradually found a rhythm and began to dominate the match, though they rarely troubled goalkeeper Adi Mbolhi, resorting to long range efforts that more often than not failed to get anywhere near the target.
Algeria had a strong claim for a penalty turned down in the 39th minute when Sofiane Feghouli tumbled under the challenge of Jean-Noel Lingani, but the referee waved away their appeals.
Three minutes later the hosts were awarded a spot kick when Jonathan Pitroipa powered into the box and drew a foul from Essaid Belkalem, but the penalty from Aristide Bance was brilliantly saved by Mbolhi.
The first half looked set to end goalless, but two minutes into injury time Pitroipa snuck between two defenders, beat Mbolhi to a teasing cross from Lingani and powered home a header to send Burkina Faso into the break with a 1-0 advantage.
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