AFCON 2017: Host Gabon on verge of exit, heartbreak for Guinea-Bissau
Pressure and I are like husband and wife," Gabon coach Jose Antonio Camacho once said.On today's showing, it looks as though the marriage is more likely to end in divorce than happily ever after.
After Gabon's opening day
draw with minnow Guinea-Bissau, anything other than a win against
Burkina Faso would make qualification for the knockout stage unlikely.
Despite
a spirited second-half effort, Wednesday's 1-1 draw means the host
nation will be watching the late match between Cameroon and
Guinea-Bissau with a keen eye.
With that must-win nature of
the match in mind Gabon started brightly. A mistake in the Burkina Faso
defense inside the opening 60 seconds allowed Andre Biyogo Poko space
down the right, but he was eventually smothered by a wall of white
shirts.
Gabon
continued to press and Johann Obiang's cross fell to Denis Bouanga,
whose crisp half-volley rattled the underside of Kouakou Koffi's
crossbar.
The pitch made it
increasingly difficult for either side to find rhythm in their passing
and the sandy, uneven surface soon claimed its first victim.
Jonathan
Pitroipa, player of the tournament in 2013 when Burkina Faso reached
the final, limped off in considerable pain inside 10 minutes and was
replaced by Prejuce Nakoulma.
It
would be the first of four injury-enforced substitutions, with the less
than perfect pitch in Libreville once again drawing criticism.
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