Mali is seeking to make
amends after losing 1-0 to
the Black Stars at the
group stage of the
tournament to grab the
third place position at the 2013 Afcon


Football fans on the African
continent will be treated to a
repeat of the 2012 Africa Cup of
Nations third place play-off on
Saturday in Port Elizabeth. Last year in Equatorial Guinea,
the Malians stood tall after
beating Ghana 2-0 to clinch the
bronze medal. In fact, the Black
Stars had beaten Mali by the
same score line earlier in the competition when they met in
Group B. Interestingly, the two west
African sides were paired again at
the group stage this year. Just
as in the 2012 edition, Ghana won
the group match 1-0 courtesy of
a Mubarak Wakaso goal from the spot. Saturday's encounter is a
matter of motivation after
disappointments in their
respective semi-final matches. The
Eagles of Mali were thrashed 4-1
by the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the first semi-final match on
Wednesday. It was the kind of
result which left many baffled, as
a much tighter match was
expected. But Patrice Carteron's men failed
to live up to the expected level
of the match as the Nigerians
walked comfortably into the final. On the other hand, the Black
Stars of Ghana, who were seen
as one of the major favourites,
missed out on another attempt
to make it into the final after a
3-2 defeat to Burkina Faso on penalties. The match ended 1-1 after 120
minutes and the Stallions were
the ones smiling as they booked
their first appearance in the final
of the Afcon following a penalty
shootout victory. Ghana's regular starting line-up will
change slightly with Mohammed
Rabiu suspended. The injured John
Paintsil is likely to stay out as
well. Kwesi Appiah will need to spend
time psyching up the four-time
African champions, who are clearly
downhearted after another
unsuccessful attempt at winning
their fifth continental title. Seydou Keita will certainly be the
danger man for the Malians and it
will be a major achievement for
him to engineer the team to a
second successive third place
finish. One of the things the Malians
must guard against is how they
handle the Ghanaian attackers in
the penalty area. Ghana have
won three penalties at the
tournament which reveals how slippery some of their attackers
are.