The match nobody wants to be in as far as the Africa Cup of Nations is concerned takes place on Saturday as the third placed playoff is played out in Port-Gentil. The consolation match this year involves the losing semi-finalists Burkina Faso and Ghana.
Burkina Faso
The 2013 runners-up agonisingly missed out on another final when they were beaten by Egypt on penalties in the semi-final. The match itself was one that they dominated throughout but they couldn’t find that killer moment to finish Egypt off. They even led early doors in the penalty shootout but couldn’t ram home that advantage either.
They will need to pick themselves up for this match because third place would still represent a decent finish for them and it would give them more momentum to take back into the World Cup qualifiers of which they have every chance of making it to Russia.
Ghana
The Black Stars were made to pay for a host of missed chances in their semi-final against Cameroon. Jordan Ayew missed two huge chances at 0-0 and at 1-0 and in the end Ghana paid the price when their opponents broke deep into injury time to put the match beyond them and end their hopes of another Africa Cup of Nations title.
It remains to be seen what Ghana have left in the tank in terms of petrol and indeed motivation as they would have come here for only one thing and that was the title. With Avram Grant pretty much a dead man walking in terms of the coaching position now the group will need to summon up all their efforts for a last go here.
Betting
In my eyes whoever came out of that first semi-final into this match was going to have a massive advantage in this game and in truth I was going to back that side whoever they were and regardless of who they were playing and I’m still going to do that.
Burkina Faso have had a massive stroke of luck with the scheduling. Ghana only played their semi-final on Thursday, will have had to put that behind them, travel to Port-Gentil and then play again less than 48hrs after the semi-final finished. That was never going to be easy for the second semi-final losers.
If anything I’m even more confident in Burkina Faso here now. I believe third place will be a significant and more important finish for them so their motivation will be natural. Heavy legs, a potential lack of motivation and hardly any time to get over an extreme disappointment all go against Ghana and so does my money. I’m with Burkina Faso in this third placed playoff.
Tips
WON – Back Burkina Faso to beat Ghana for a 4/10 stake at 3.60 with Bwin
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