An elated Paulo Duarte says that it was Burkina Faso's ability to deal with the physical threat of Tunisia that ultimately saw them victorious in their African Nations Cup quarter-final in Libreville on Saturday.
The Burkinabe set up a second semi-final in four years as Aristide Bance hammered home a controversial free kick in the 80th minute to break the deadlock and a break-away goal from Prejuce Nakoulma in the 84th settled the result.
They will now meet the winner of Sunday's quarterfinal between Egypt and Morocco in the semifinal, to be played in Libreville on Wednesday.
"It was a difficult match, decided on the small details," Duarte said. "We were afraid of that aspect [Tunisia's physicality], especially at corners and free-kicks, because we knew they had athletic and tall players.
"In my team I don't have players that are tall, but I'm very happy with that victory because we are through to the semifinals and can dedicate the win to the people of Burkina Faso. Both teams were very impressive, it wasn't easy.
"I knew Tunisia was [a] solid [team], very strong defenders, but I knew playing one-to-one we could take advantage of them."
The introduction of Bance off the bench proved the catalyst and he congratulated the whole team on their effort.
"We really sweated for the jersey, the whole team had a very good game. We are a team, everyone is the same. You can be a substitute, get a chance to come on the pitch and make a difference," he said.
"The country is proud of us tonight. There are 20 million Burkinabe behind us, so that puts a lot of pressure on us. We do not want to disappoint them, it's not easy to manage the expectation. When I scored, I thought immediately of the people celebrating back home."
For Tunisia it was another failure at the quarterfinal stage of the competition. Since lifting the title on home soil in 2004, they have not advanced past the Last 8, losing at this stage on five occasions.
"It's true we didn't have the same performance as in the past," coach Henryk Kasperczak said. "We did not show fighting spirit or a willingness to win.
"We were tired, did not show the possession of ball as we have proved in the past and were not successful in transition.
"We tried to do better, but unfortunately the substitution made by my colleague [of Bance] proved positive, when a player makes a difference it shows the coach foresaw a change in the match, so congrats to the coach."
