By Mark Gleeson JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Mali and Ghana meet to decide the bronze medal at the African Nations Cup for a second successive tournament on Saturday. Mali beat Ghana a year ago in Malabo to take third place at the last edition in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon and Saturday's match in Port Elizabeth will go to the side best able to put aside the trauma of missing out on the final again.

By Mark Gleeson NELSPRUIT, South Africa, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Burkina Faso won a first African Nations Cup final place on Wednesday after a sensational penalty shootout win over Ghana but will take the field on Sunday without key player Jonathan Pitroipa who was shown a controversial red card. Burkina, who will meet Nigeria at Soccer City, edged their neighbours 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time in the semi-final at the Mbombela Stadium to continue the dream run by a team who started as rank outsiders.

Rank outsiders Burkina Faso will face Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations final after a 3-2 penalty shootout win over Ghana on Wednesday. Ghana's Udinese midfielder Emmanuel Agyeman Badu had his effort saved by Daouda Diakite after earlier misses by teammates Isaac Vorsah and Emmanuel Clottey. Bakary Kone, Henri Traore and Aristide Bance converted their chances to continue the fairy-tale run of a team that had turned up in South Africa with the modest ambition of ending a 17-match winless Nations Cup run.

Coach Kwesi Appiah was part of the Ghana team that won the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations, and 31 years later on the eve of Wednesday's semi-finals he has told his players now is their time. "What have I said to them? I've told them I was lucky to be one of the players to come back with the title, now they need to write their names in history. "Then they can say in the future 'I was part of the team that won in South Africa'." Appiah, speaking at the team's hotel, believed there was not a great deal to choose between his team and semi-final opponents Burkina Faso.