Nigeria and Burkina Faso in Africa Final

By JACK BELL

Themba Hadebe/Associated Press The field at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, site of Wednesday’s Africa Cup of Nations semifinal between Burkina Faso and Ghana, is in horrible condition.

Burkina Faso ousted Ghana in a penalty-kick shootout, 3-2, after playing to a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes, and Nigeria rolled over Mali, 4-1, in South Africa on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Africa Cup of Nations. On Sunday in Johannesburg, the two countries will play for the title and a berth in this year’s FIFA Confederation Cup in Brazil.
Bakary Koné, Henri Traoré and Aristide Bancé converted their spot kicks for Burkina Faso while Ghana failed to convert on three of its five attempts. Ghana, which has ousted the United States from the last two World Cups, took a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute on a penalty kick by Mubarak Wakaso. The Stallions drew even when Bancé scored in the 60th minute.

Nic Bothma/European Pressphoto Agency Burkina Faso players Wednesday after defeating Ghana in a penalty-kick shootout.

The match was played at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, where much of the grass had been killed by a fungus in the month leading up to the tournament after heavy rain, then warm temperature and humidity. A coating of sand was spread liberally, leaving the playing surface hard and patchy.
The local organizing committee had not allowed any teams to train on the field. Burkina Faso has played all its matches in Nelspruit.
Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) had its best showing in this event 1998, when it finished fourth.
In Durban, Stephen Keshi closed a circle spanning 19 years when he led Nigeria into the final in a one-sided win against Mali. Keshi was the captain on the Nigerian team that last won the Cup of Nations title in 1994. After his playing days he came to the United States to earn his coaching chops. With Keshi as coach, Nigeria is in its first final since 2000.
The Eagles scored three goals in the final 20 minutes of the fist half to ice the match. The goals came from from defender Elderson Echiejile on a header in the 25th minute, Brown Ideye, five minutes later and an own goal by Mali defender Momo Sissoko a minute before halftime
Keshi is one win from becoming only the second man in the tournament’s 56-year history to win as a player and coach. The only other is Egypt’s Mahmoud El Gohary, who won it in 1959 and 1998.
“We won in 1994 after we had been together for five years,” Keshi told Reuters. “But we have been together for five weeks. We met up for the first time in our training camp in Portugal before the tournament, and it was a young group. We worked hard, the atmosphere was wonderful but you cannot compare this team to that. We did play very well today and I am very happy but we haven’t won anything yet.”