(CNN) -- Burkina Faso's fairytale at the Africa Cup of Nations will have one more enthralling chapter after it overcame the might of four-time champion Ghana to seal a place in the final for the very first time in South Africa Wednesday.
In a contest which was marred by a number of mystifying refereeing decisions, Burkina Faso survived the sending off of striker David Pitroipa and the ruling out of a seemingly legitimate strike to prevail on penalties.
With the game ending 1-1 after extra-time, it was the Burkinabe which held its nerve to progress 3-2 on penalties and advance to Sunday's showpiece final against Nigeria.
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The Super Eagles had earlier booked their place in the final with a convincing 4-1 win over Mali in Durban.
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Burkina Faso, which had not won a game away from home at the tournament before arriving in South Afirca, had endured a frustrating night with referee Jdidi Slim's display a constant cause of consternation.
But it will now have to take on Nigeria without star striker Jonathan Pitroipa, who was harshly shown a second yellow card for diving when it looked as if he had been fouled.
Pitroipa's 117th minute dismissal leaves the Burkinabe without its two star strikers following the injury to talented forward Alain Traore.
Burkina Faso should have been given the chance to take an early lead when John Boye sent Pitroipa hurtling towards the turf inside the Ghana penalty area, but the referee wrongly waved away appeals for a spot kick.
Instead, it was Ghana which was controversially awarded a penalty after the Jdidi adjudged that Christian Atsu had been fouled inside the penalty area.
Mubarak Wakaso stood up to fire home from 12 yards and net his fourth goal of the competition.
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With both teams struggling to play on a terrible surface at the Mbombela Stadium, the game lacked any real sort of quality.
But what it lacked in quality it more than made up for in drama and excitement as Burkina Faso continued to fight back against a perceived injustice.
Emmanuel Emenike, left, celebrates after putting Nigeria 1-0 ahead against Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa.
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Substitute Didier Drogba (left) celebrates with Yaya Toure after the midfielder put the Ivory Coast 2-0 ahead near the end of the Africa Cup of Nations Group D match against Tunisia in Rustenburg.
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Ghana goalkeeper Fatawu Dauda produced a wonderful reaction save to deny Aristide Bance, while Asamoah Gyan hit a post for the Black Stars.
But with an hour on the clock, the underdog finally got its reward as Bance was allowed time and space to fire home a deserved equalizer.
Burkina Faso make giant strides
With the game moving into extra-time, Burkina Faso appeared to have scored a dramatic winner when Prejuce Nakoulma beat Dauda to the ball and prodded into the net.
But most of those packed inside the stadium were left in disbelief when Jdidi ruled the goal out for a minor clash with Kwadwo Asamoah.
Worse was to follow for the Burkinabe when Pitroipa was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for diving , despite replays showing he was quite clearly fouled.
In the end, the contest went to penalties and it was Burkina Faso which held its nerve with Bakary Kone, Henri Traore and Bance all scoring to send it through to the final.
Burkina captain Charles Kabore told reporters: "The referee is human, all humans make mistakes, but he happened to make too many tonight. But we're not going to dwell on that, we've qualified."
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In the day's early kick off, Nigeria reached the final for the first time since 2000 following a comfortable victory over Mali.
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The Super Eages scored three times in 20 first half minutes to take control of the contest and leave manager Stephen Keshi dreaming of repeating the triumph he pulled off as a player in 1994.
Elderson Echiejile headed Nigeria ahead on 25 minutes before Brown Ideye added a second on the half-hour mark.
Momo Sissoko then deflected Emmanuel Emenike's free-kick into the Mali net to leave his side facing an uphill struggle.
And Ahmed Musa, who replaced the injured Victor Moses , inflicted further punishment on Mali when he ran through to score eight minutes after the interval.
Mali, which famously came back from 4-0 down to draw 4-4 with Angola in the opening game of the 2010 finals, pulled one back through substitute Cheick Diarra in the 75th minute.
But that failed to take the shine off for manager Keshi, who is now hoping to become only the second man in the tournament's history to win the tournament as a player and a coach after Egypt's Mahmoud El Gohary, who won it in 1959 and 1998.
"We won in 1994 after we had been together for five years," he told reporters.
"But we have been together for five weeks. We met up for the first time in our training camp in Portugal before the tournament, and it was a young group.
"We worked hard, the atmosphere was wonderful but you cannot compare this team to that. We did play very well today and I am very happy but we haven't won anything yet."
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Mbemba was recently with the Congolese squad at the Africa Cup of Nations. He is pictured here, standing behind the team's French coach Claude Leroy, in a training session. Mbemba was not used by Leroy in the tournament.
The Democratic Republic of Congo went out of the competition at the group stage after drawing all three of their games.
Mbemba was born in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa, as was another of the city's most famous sons French midfielder Claude Makelele, who played for Nantes, Marseille, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain.
Africa's second biggest country, the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen more than its fair share of violence and its citizens are some of the poorest in the world.
Mbemba was registered by his first Congolese club - E.S. La Grace -- as having been born on August 8, 1988, according to one of the documents obtained by CNN. The documents -- showing Mbemba's various ages -- were provided by the Brazilian agent Paulo Teixeira, who was called in by E.S. La Grace to obtain money they claimed was owed to them by Anderlecht for training the player in his formative years. In attempting verification of these documents -- from FIFA, the various federations and clubs involved -- only the world governing body and the Belgian Football Assocation responded directly to CNN's request by saying they appeared to be authentic.
In another document obtained by CNN, Mbemba was registered by his second Congolese club -- Mputu -- as also having been born on August 8,1988.
When Mbemba obtained a Belgian citizenship document in July 2011, a month after he arrived in Europe, his date of birth is now dated August 8, 1994.
In April 2012, Anderlecht confirmed in a letter to FIFA that Mbemba had been sent back to Kinshasa, but later that year he returned to the Brussels club. The Belgian FA confirmed that this document is geniune.
In April 2012, Mbemba was sent back to the Congo, but by August 2012 he was back at Anderlecht when he was given a three-year professional contract. Anderlecht's general manager Herman van Holsbeeck is pictured here sitting in the club's stadium watching a first-team training session.
The Congolese players of Frenchman Leroy, who is pictured here, went on a two-day strike just before the start of the Africa Nations Cup following a row with the country's football federation over bonus payments.
Leroy's side came back from 2-0 down to deny Ghana victory in their first game of Group B at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Anderlecht have a number of Congolese players in their squad and the Brussels club's forward Dieumerci Mbokani was recently elected Belgium's player of the year.
The Democractic Republic of Congo's progress at the Africa Cup of Nations was avidly followed back in Kinshasa.
Cheick Tiote leveled for the tournament favorite but Sunday Mba's 78th-minute winner earned Nigeria a semifinal clash against Mali.
The Ivory Coast's veteran captain Didier Drogba (left) had been hoping to win the continent's title for the first time.
Burkina Faso also went through to the last four, winning 1-0 against fellow first-time quarterfinalists Togo. An extra-time header from Jonathan Pitroipa earned "The Stallions" a clash with Ghana.
Former Chelsea star Drogba had been dropped from the starting line-up for the first time in his international career, having been taken off during his country's opening match after failing to impress.
Manchester City star Toure, the two-time African player of the year, netted his second goal of the tournament in the 88th minute.
Another substitute, Didier Ya Konan (No. 13) sealed the Ivorians' second successive win with the third goal at Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
Striker Gervinho, who plays for English club Arsenal, scored the opening goal in the 21st minute. He also netted a late winner in the opening match against Togo.
Emmanuel Adebayor helped Togo bounce back from that 2-1 defeat as the Sparrowhawks' captain scored in a 2-0 win against Algeria which put the Ivorians into the quarterfinals and eliminated the north Africans with one match still to play.
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His future at the English Premier League champions had been in doubt since his training ground bust-up with manager Roberto Mancini in early January, when coaching staff had to intervene to separate the pair. Mancini later downplayed the tussle, sparked by Balotelli's hostile tackle on a fellow player, as "nothing unusual."
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