At a press conference on Tuesday, April 11, 2023 in Ouagadougou, Brahima Traoré, the coach of the U17 Stallions of Burkina Faso, announced his list of 25 players selected to participate in the U17 AFCON 2023 scheduled from April 29 to May 19 in Algeria. He then answered questions from the press. During this exercise, Brahima Traoré reacted on the first opponent of the Stallions Cadets which is none other than Mali.
"To say that we fear Mali is too much to say. Mali has more or less the same soccer as us. Maybe they are also afraid of us. We trust each other," he said before mentioning the importance of negotiating the first game in a competition. "The ideal scenario for me is to win the first game. In an African Cup of Nations or in any other competition, the first game is very important. We must enter the competition well to avoid the if. We want to win this first game against Mali. Then, Mali and Cameroon will put pressure on each other during the second day", concluded Brahima Traore.
Lodged in pool C of the tournament with Mali, Cameroon and South Sudan, the U17 Stallions of Burkina Faso will begin their campaign against the Eagles of Mali on May 1, 2023.
