• Keeps mum on game plan against Nigeria
• Hires psychologist to boost team
SportingLife brings you the thoughts of Coach of Burkina Faso, Paul Put from an extract of the interview the Belgian gave an Ouagadogu based newspaper prior to the Stallions’ departure to South Africa for their AFCON preparations in Nelspriut. The Burkinabes are one of Nigeria’s Group C opponents.
Excerpts…
With Zambia, Nigeria and Ethiopia, what are the chances of Burkina Faso in this group?
Its hard to say. But I think we must have confidence in ourselves and play according to our abilities. Everyone sees Nigeria and Zambia as favorites of the group. But Burkina can perhaps be the surprise of the championship as Zambia was in 2012.
Everything is possible in football. I would not give statistics, but I need a determined and disciplined team with which I can go far with in this year’s CAN.
In any case, I’m hopefull. But we must be realistic. Nigeria is the second country with the most professional players in the world. There are Nigerians playing in major championships such as in England and Italy. But having individually talented players does not necessarily mean to have a great team.
Zambia is the defending champion. The players are confident and want to prove again that they are talented. Ethiopia is one of the surprise team of the CAN. But they must be respected from the moment they are qualified. I watched the videos of their games and I analyzed their games. I noticed that the Ethiopian players are very fast, are technical and play with a lot of aggression. In terms of their aggressive nature, we will seek to irritate and cause them to commit many mistakes. But this tactic remains to be investigated.
I said earlier that I’m hopeful because we have a good team. Our players are talented and they come back to show what they can do. Already I am sure of one thing, the players want to do better than the last CAN.
Stephen Keshi Nigeria, Herve Renard Zambia. Do you dread their game strategies?
I followed Stephen Keshi and Hervé Renard interviews in which they claimed that the Eagles and Chipolopolo are the two teams that will come top in our group. For them, they do not speak of Burkina Faso or Ethiopia. This is their strategy but I also have mine. I do not want to give details how Burkina Faso will play against these two teams. To them, their own strategies but I’m sure we’ll do better to go beyond the first round.
The Stallions will play friendly matches against Niger and Swaziland. Do you think that these games will allow the players to be ready for the championship?
You should know that preparation matches is one objective we use in measuring the ability of the team. On this level, Niger is at the same level with us, So, choosing to play against Swaziland, we seek a psychological effect. We do not have enough time to play three friendlies as other countries would do, but I think the two games are quite sufficient for our build up.
Since the CAN ’98, Burkina Faso have not passed the first round of the competition. How will you seek to overcome this jinx?
In 1998, Burkina Faso had the advantage of being the host. This is not the case in South Africa. But I notice that the players are very determined to do well. They are talented but they must also have the chance to score and be fit at the right time. All these aspects play in the victory of a team during a match. But the main thing for me is the willingness of players to show their pride being Burkinabes.
Going into the championship, what are your fears?
I fear nothing other than injury. Because it can affect the performance of a team. But we tried to improve the preparation of players. We have strengthened the medical staff with the arrival of a psychologist.
For testing physical conditions, we will use devices (its called Polar) that monitors the heart rate of a player. Then we will know if the player works in the red zone or below his capacity.
The Ministry of Sports and Recreation and the Burkinabe Football Federation have it with this unit. In addition to this, we do a check-up for all players to identify those who need nutritional supplements or vitamins in their blood. In South Africa, we will play at an altitude of 1400 meters. Players therefore need 7 to 8 days to adapt. They will also get used to the schedule.
We’ll carry out tests in this direction and also know what they need to boost their form during games. The work is to be done by a doctor in Belgium. We will go with these results to Nelspruit and each player will be treated with doctor’s recommendations.
