African Youth Championship
By Durosimi Thomas BBC Sport Online in Ouagadougou

Mali (in green) have little experience at global level

With the semi-final places decided at the Championship, Africa's chances at the Under-20 Fifa World Cup hangs in the balance.

The four teams in the semi-finals - Burkina Faso, Mali, Egypt and Ivory Coast - have automatically booked their ticket to the United Arab Emirates.

But the line-up raises questions of when an African country will win the Youth World Cup for the first time.

Apart from Egypt who won bronze two years ago in Argentina, Burkina Faso will be making their debut.

And Ivory Coast and Mali have not been consistent in the past.

Egypt and Mali who play the Ouagadougou semi-final on Tuesday, have played the better football in this tournament but they could struggle on the world stage.

A repeat of an all-African semi-final at the 2001 tournament in Argentina - when Ghana played Egypt in the semi-final in Cordoba - will be hard to fathom this time.

With the World Youth Championships starting in March, the four African sides have little time to prepare properly for the event.

This could prove to be the continent's undoing.