Gambia'05: Burkinabe meets Ghana on Tuesday

(FROM: William Ezah, GNA Special Correspondent, Banjul, Gambia)

Banjul, Gambia, May 9, GNA - Coach Webonga Piouhiri of Burkina Faso, has stated that his team will make amends when they meet their Ghanaian counterparts in the second game of group A, at the on-going Sixth Africa Under-17 Tournament, in The Gambia on Tuesday.

Burkina Faso lost their opening game to Gambia by a lone goal. The coach told the GNA Sports that although the Starlets paraded one of the best squad in the competition and managed to come from behind on two occasions to beat Mali 3-2, he was not in any way perturbed by the feat.

He said, his boys has the ability to hold their own against Ghana, but refused to make any prediction on the game.

"It is always difficult to predict when playing Ghana, but I think my boys have overcome the intimidation they suffered in their first game against the host nation, Gambia, and are now psyched up for action", the coach said.

He said, although the team embarked on training tours in Benin, Senegal and France ahead of the competition "the players have never played in front of such an intimidating atmosphere as experienced in the opening match".

"With the presence of the president of Gambia along side other important personalities, it was obvious these young boys were intimidated and this caused us dearly", the coach said. Coach Piouhiri, said the game against Ghana will be different "because there is going to be a level playing field". He said enough technical corrections have been made and hoping for a better output against Ghana.

Coach Piouhiri said the technical handlers have worked on the concentration of boys and expressed the hope they will demonstrate it throughout the subsequent matches.

"With all these preparations I do not see why we can't beat Ghana, after all we defeated Cameroon, one of the strongest sides on the continent", the coach said.

Coach David Duncan expressed confidence in the Starlets and believes they would become the first team to qualify for the next stage with a win against Burkina Faso.

Kick-off is at 1700 hours at the Independence Stadium.