{"id":18509,"date":"2013-02-04T06:50:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T06:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2013\/02\/burkina-faso-have-advantage-over-ghana-on-dodgy-afcon-pitch\/"},"modified":"2013-02-04T06:50:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T06:50:00","slug":"burkina-faso-have-advantage-over-ghana-on-dodgy-afcon-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/02\/04\/burkina-faso-have-advantage-over-ghana-on-dodgy-afcon-pitch\/","title":{"rendered":"Burkina Faso Have Advantage Over Ghana On Dodgy Afcon Pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<p><span class=\"small-txt c14\">Posted On Monday, 4th February 2013<\/span><\/p>\n<div readability=\"64\">\n<div id=\"attachment_212358\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter c15\" readability=\"11\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-212358\" title=\"South Africa African Cup Soccer\" src=\"http:\/\/img.ghanamma.com\/uploads\/2013\/02\/9bfepitch1.jpeg.jpg\" alt=\"Burkina Faso will have a huge advantage over Ghana on the ragged and much-criticized field in Nelspruit when they clash in the semi-finals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday.\" width=\"460\" height=\"276\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sand rises from the pitch as Burkina Faso&#8217;s Saidou Mady Panandetiguiri, left, fights for the ball with Ethiopia&#8217;s Seyoum Tesfaye during their African Cup of Nations group C match at the Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Burkina Faso will have a huge advantage over Ghana on the ragged and much-criticized field in Nelspruit when they clash in the semi-finals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The sandy and bumpy field at the Mbombela Stadium is from the lush surface in Port Elizabeth where the Black Stars has played all its games so far in the competition in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Seeking to end a 31-year wait for a title for one of Africa\u2019s top teams, coach Kwesi Appiah won\u2019t have the advantage of previous experience at Mbombela at this tournament \u2014 unlike Ghana\u2019s opponents Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n<p>The Stallions have played four matches at Mbobela ahead of the semi-final, leaving the Ghanaians to fly to the northern city on Monday and quickly try to get used to a field branded \u201ca disgrace\u201d and embarrassing for African football by Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor.<\/p>\n<p>It was also described as \u201cnot good enough\u201d for the tournament by the organizing Confederation of African Football.<\/p>\n<p>The Mbombela Stadium surface promises to be an uncomfortable experience for the skilful Ghanaians.<\/p>\n<p>The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium field in Port Elizabeth has helped Ghana\u2019s slick passing game, allowing its team of quick and talented youngsters to play.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, Burkina Faso has made the last eight for the first time on foreign soil by flooding the midfield and shutting down more expansive teams on the Nelspruit sand.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves Ghana playing catch-up ahead of the semi-final.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Posted On Monday, 4th February 2013 Sand rises from the pitch as Burkina Faso&#8217;s Saidou Mady Panandetiguiri, left, fights for the ball with Ethiopia&#8217;s Seyoum Tesfaye during their African Cup of Nations group C match at the Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit Burkina Faso will have a huge advantage over Ghana on the ragged and much-criticized field in Nelspruit when they clash in the semi-finals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - 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