Both Ghana and Burkina Faso might have been disappointed with their respective semifinal loss, failing to reach the all-important finals and battle it out for the title. However, everything in not lost for the two teams, who will now have to battle it out for the third place playoff at Port-Gentil on Saturday.
Read: Cameroon to face Egypt in final
Ghana will be hurt with their semifinal loss to Cameroon, who outplayed them to reach the final. Ghana were looked upon as one of the title favourites even before the competition started with some talented individual players, but they could not deliver in the semifinals.
Hence, Ghana will hope to come with a great effort on Saturday, and finish the competition on a high, with a win. For that too, they need their big players to shine. One will not be surprised if Ghana produces one of their best performances in the third place playoff encounter, as they are wounded by their last loss.
Burkina Faso have been one of the biggest surprises of the competition, playing some brilliant football, and came close to knocking out seven-time champions Egypt, who could only win on penalties. Despite that loss, they will be a team on a high. They have nothing to lose as they have already exceeded their expectations.
Burkina Faso are expected to play pressure-free football, which basically allows them to be fearless in their approach against Ghana, who will once again start the match as favourites.
Burkina Faso after defeating Tunisia in quarterfinals and providing a tough game to Egypt, will hope to stun Ghana and finish third, which they narrowly missed in the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations, where they lost to DR Congo in penalties.
Irrespective of their failures in the semifinal, Ghana and Burkina Faso are expected to produce a quality encounter on Saturday, and give something to cheer for their fans back home as well.
Afcon 2017 semifinals schedule
Ghana vs Burkina Faso
Date: 4 February
Time: 8 pm local time, 12.30am IST, 7pm GMT, 2 pm ET
Venue: Stade de Port-Gentil, Port-Gentil
TV listings: India: No live coverage. Africa: SuperSport6 Africa. UK: EuroSport 2 UK. Australia, US: Bein Sports. Spain: Eurosport 2 Spain.
