Burkina Faso Beat Ethiopia in World Cup qualifier
Ethiopia’s poor start to 2026 World Cup qualifying continued on Tuesday as they were defeated 0-3 by Burkina Faso in Morocco.
The Walias took just a point from a goalless draw with Sierra Leone in a Group A opener played at El Abdi Stadium last week.
The same venue hosted their second match against Burkina Faso and the performance showcased the teams’ limitations.
Players’ bad decision-making in the final third and inability to shoot the ball at goal remained unresolved for the Walias in their matchday of the WC qualifying Campaign again.
The two teams seemed to finish the match goalless with their strikers failing to exploit their scoring opportunities in the first half. However, Burkina Faso’s coach made the right shot when he introduced his first sub Bertrand Traore early in the second half.
Traore made his presence felt with an assist to Blati Toure who put Burkina Faso ahead in the 69 minute. Ten minutes later, he converted a penalty with a left-footed shot to the high center of the goal. Burkina Faso scored the third in the final minute of the match through Dango Ouattara.
The result leaves the Gebremedhin Haile’s side – without a goal scorer and only a point – playing catch-up already with Group A leaders.
Egypt top the Group with six points followed by Burkina Faso and Guinea Bissau – both collected four points.
There are nine groups in the African preliminaries where the winner qualifies for the 2026 finals. The four best runners-up get a further chance to qualify in a two-tier playoff system.
Starting Line Up vs Burkina Faso
Goalkeeper
22 Seid Habtamu
Defender
5 Million Solomon
14 Henok Adugna
16 Yared Bayeh
17 Chernet Gugsa (Fitsum Tilahun 79′)
Midfield
6 Gatoch PANOM (Capt)
11 Amanuel Gebremichael (Abel Yalew 45′)
20 Ramadan Yusef
21 Wogene Gezahegn
Forward
10 Surafel Dagnachew
18 Kenean Markneh (Habtamu Tadesse 71)
What’s Next Match
The Africa Zone (CAF) qualifiers for the 26 FIFA World Cup will continue in June 2024 with matchday third and and fourth.
Matchday 3
(3-11 June 2024)
Sierra Leone v Djibouti (Group A)
Guinea Bissau v Ethiopia (Group A)
Egypt v Burkina Faso (Group A)
Matchday 4
(3-11 June 2024)
Burkina Faso v Sierra Leone (Group A)
Guinea Bissau v Egypt (Group A)
Djibouti v Ethiopia (Group A)
