Poor pitch conditions gives Burkina Faso hope

 

Jonathan Wilson previews Wednesday's second semi-final between Burkina Faso and Ghana, and although he fancies the favourites to eventually prevail the condition of the pitch could even matters out somewhat...

 

The semi-final at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit will be the eighth game there and still all the talk is about the pitch. Unusually heavy rains, which have caused many of the roads in the nearby Kruger National Park to be closed, brought on a fungal infection that killed the grass. Local organisers, unable to shift games without huge disruption to teams, fans and journalists, tried to make do, coating the surface with huge quantities of sand but after complaints that could be dangerous, it was removed for the quarter-final, leaving huge batches of almost bare mud.

 

The result is that matches at the stadium have been grim, attritional affairs. Seven matches (one of which went to extra time) have yielded just 13 goals and only Burkina Faso, in their 4-0 win over Ethiopia have managed to score more than a single goal in a game; four matches have finished 1-1. So Ghana's game against Burkina Faso is unlikely to be high-scoring (Under 2.5 Goals is 1.51).

 

But the difficult nature of the surface is likely to do more than simply effect the quality of football. For one thing, the rule tends to be that the worse the surface, the less advantage technically more accomplished sides will have. So where Ghana, in the semi-final for the fourth Cup of Nations in a row, would usually be expected to brush aside Burkina Faso, as they did in beating them 1-0 in the Cup of Nations three years ago, the last time they met, they may not find it so simple this time. "You have to take an extra touch to control the ball," explained Burkina Faso's Belgian coach, Paul Put.

 

Not only is the pitch a leveller, though, but Burkina Faso have experience of it, having played all four of their matches there so far (Ghana are as long as 2.04 to win in 90 minutes which looks attractive but presumably is as long as that because the pitch makes goalscoring so difficult).

 

Ghana haven't even been able to train on the pitch, after a thunderstorm on Monday night meant their training session on Tuesday morning had to be moved. "Unfortunately we have been informed that we can't have a training session at the main pitch," said the coach James Kwesi Appiah, who was part of the last Ghana squad to win the Cup of Nations, in Libya in 1982.

 

"Saying that I don't believe in the idea of good and bad pitches. Burkina Faso have had the opportunity of playing here so we have a disadvantage - but we just have to go out there and compete. When we get there we'll go for a walk around the pitch. In our country there are many pitches that are much worse. It would be better to have even one training session. We need to take our minds off the pitch situation. All the players are aware of the problems but we'll put it behind us."

 

The slow nature of the surface, though, something that badly hampered Zambia, may force a change of approach, from Ghana, who have profited in this tournament from sitting back and breaking quickly. "Looking at the pitch, we'll certainly have to change our tactical plan," said Appiah. We have several worse pitches in our country and I'm sure we'll be able to cope with the situation. Once we get there we'll have a look and try to adapt to it."

 

The danger for Ghana is that Burkina Faso have already adapted to it, have already worked out the necessity of switching play quickly from wing to wing, using long sweeping passes to try to create the space that allows their players that extra touch of which Put spoke. A Burkina win is far from impossible but given the probability that goals will be at a premium, the sensible course again seems to be Correct Score bets.

 

Given if Burkina win it's extremely likely to be by a single goal 10.5 on them to win 1-0 looks a far better bet that 4.05 for them to win by any score. Without the injured Alain Traore, though, their lack of cutting edge still leaves Ghana significant favourites.

 

Recommended Bets

Back Ghana to beat Burkina Faso @ 2.04

Back 0-0 Correct Score @ 7.2

 

Bet HERE

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