Locals lure back national team
Coach says the friendly people and last time's good luck saw Burkina Faso prepare for AFCON in Mbombela.
It was the locals who lured Burkina Faso back to Mbombela for their AFCON 2015 preparations. This was according to Paul Put, the Belgian coach who led the team to the final of AFCON 2013.
The biggest surprise of the tournament, hosted by South Africa two years ago, was the Stallions. Mbombela hosted the team during the group phase. They did not lose one match at Mbombela Stadium. They only lost the final to champions Nigeria. This time they chose to finish their preparations with two friendly matches in the city of which they had such fond memories.
They beat Swaziland 5-1 on Saturday.
Put said when the tournament was moved from Morocco (which refused to host due to Ebola fears) to Equatorial Guinea, he looked for a place with a similar climate as the hosts. “Two years ago playing here brought us a lot of luck,” he says. “And the people were kind. We made the decision to try and get the players in the same moral and mental space.”
The team is staying at Ingwenyama Conference and Sports Resort. When the newspaper attended one of the team’s training sessions there last week, the camaraderie among the players became clearly visible.
His first concern is the players’ mentality, heart and passion. ”I work a lot on the psychological side of the team. When I first came there were small groups within the group.”
Most of his players play their club soccer outside of Burkina Faso. “National coaches face more challenges. Coaching a national team is more difficult because especially ahead of friendly matches you only have the players for 48 hours.”
He counts himself lucky that he spent 12 years coaching the first division in Belgium. As a coach at a club one can better observe the players and their lifestyle. “I follow up on all my players every week. I know who is playing and how they are.”
It is also difficult to predict how the Stallions may fare this year. Burkina Faso will face Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville in the group stage.
“It is not a spectacular group but it will still be hard. Our group doesn’t feature big teams but the host country is always difficult to play. Gabon is also a very good team.”
The Stallions will kick off their AFCON tournament against Gabon in Equatorial Guinea’s largest city, Bata on Saturday.
But first they take on Botswana in their final warm-up match at the stadium at 17:00.
