There was mass hysteria in
Burkina Faso on Wednesday night
after the national team
defeated Ghana to reach their
first Africa Cup of Nations final. Uncountable numbers of
Burkinabe – men, women and
children – trooped out of their
homes to celebrate the
Stallions' historic victory. Some
broke down in tears by street corners, kneeling and thanking
heaven for the triumph, while
others, mostly youths, rode
motorcycles in hundreds across
the capital Ouagadougou honking
their horns, screaming and singing. It was a night to
remember. "Today is my greatest day so
far in this country. We have
never seen such fervour and
cause for national get-together
before. You can see for yourself,
even the trees, the birds and goats are celebrating alongside
(21) million Burkinabe," Ismael
Ouedreago, a 54-year-old stylist
told supersport.com. Most restaurants and beer
parlours served food and drinks
gratis to passersby, who were
really not in the mood to eat or
drink but to dance, jump, run
and scream. Policemen abandoned their checkpoints to
join the horde of jubilant fans. "This is our first time to reach
an Afcon final, and beating Ghana
convincingly is worth celebrating
even by taking off my duty
uniform," Ahmed Sawadogo, a
37-year-old police officer said. However, underneath the wild
raptures lies some fear for
Sunday's final against Nigeria,
which many Burkinabe say
remains very uncertain because
of how the Super Eagles have been improving in the
tournament. "Although we played a 1-1 draw
against Nigeria in the group
stage, the Super Eagles now
seem like a wild beast that has
just been unchained. They are
devouring and the general fear here now is they could do the
same to us like they did to Mali
earlier on Wednesday," said Awa
Sanogo, a 41-year-old trader
based in the country's second
largest city Bobo Dioulasso. Nevertheless, some feel even if
the Stallions lose to Nigeria on
Sunday it wouldn't be any
disaster because nobody had
expected them to come this far. More News