Gabon’s Panthers and the Stallions of Burkina Faso clash at the Limbe Stadium with both nations hoping to continue excelling at AFCON 2021 and possibly making their respective nations even prouder with progression to the quarter-finals.
Africa Cup of Nations – Round of 16
Sunday 23 January
Limbe Stadium
18:00
To Win
Burkina Faso 13/10 | Draw 31/20 | Gabon 5/2
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso are one of the underdog stories of the tournament with gritty performances filled with effort, sweat and pure passion that has captured football lovers thus far and everyone who enjoys the beautiful game would love to see the Stallions gallop into the quarter-finals and continue their journey in Cameroon.
We start from scratch, however, Burkina Faso come into the knockout stages by suffering a 2-1 loss to host nation Cameroon after conceding two first half penalties and then went on to claim their only victory thanks to a Hassane Bande goal against a very competitive Cape Verde outfit and finally secured qualification with a 1-1 draw against Ethiopia at the Stade Omnisports de Bafoussam.
After missing the Cape Verde clash due to Covid-19, captain Bertrand Traore returned to action in the deciding group-stage encounter against Ethiopia which gave a huge boost to the team. The Aston Villa winger is head and shoulders the best player in the team and the Stallions’ biggest threat, while the player to watch could be Bayer Leverkusen’s 22-year-old centre-back Edmond Tapsoba.
Gabon
Gabon have been hit hard by the loss of their charismatic and talismanic captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who’s been forced to return to London for medical treatment without featuring at AFCON 2021.
The Arsenal striker hadn’t played football since the Gunners’ 2-1 defeat to Everton, six weeks ago, while recovering from malaria after contracting the disease while on international duty with Gabon. We wish Auba a speedy recovery, but the show must go on for the Panthers.
Just like their opponents, Burkina Faso, Gabon would love to continue their fairy-tale at AFCON 2021. The Panthers have been quietly going about their business under the radar and have deservedly earned their place at this stage of the competition, beating minnows Comoros (1-0) in their opening game before playing their best football in hard fought stalemates against African giants Ghana (1-1) and Morocco (2-2).
Striker Jim Allevinah helped the Panthers snatch a point against Ghana after cancelling out Andre Ayew’s goal, while also finding the back of the net by scoring passed highly-rated Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou from the penalty spot.
Prediction: To Qualify – Burkina Faso (6/10)
Personally, the hosts of the 2017 AFCON don’t convince me with their lack of quality in defence and this could prove to be their undoing or coach Patrice Neveu might opt to pack the numbers in midfield in order to stop Burkina Faso playing through them and try taking the game to extra time where his troops might oust a victory by the slimmest of margins or penalties.
