Burkina Faso’s Souleymane Alio is confident that the team has shown their capabilities to challenge for the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title after their hard earned 2-1 victory over Nigeria sailed them to the semi-finals on Thursday in Algiers.

Alio, named man of the match in the hotly contested duel, says the team has a renewed hope and ambition after earning a morale boosting ticket to the World Cup.

“We are delighted with the ticket to the World Cup and now, the focus shifts to the title and we will try to win it. We have a good team and we can do it,” Alio said after the match.

On his man of the match award, the forward was delighted and over the moon.

“Although I did not score, I feel I did well to help my team. Overall we played as a team and worked hard for the victory against a very tough opponent,” he added.

Burkina Faso will now return to Annaba, where they played their group stage matches, to face off with Senegal in the semi-finals on Sunday.