The poor state of the pitch in Port-Gentil means teams must perform their pre-game warm-ups indoors ahead of Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations matches.

Ghana and Mali meet at 6pm at the venue in the Gabonese port city, with Egypt and Uganda clashing later on the same surface at 9pm.

The surface at the brand-new venue cut up terribly during the first games to be played there on Tuesday and Saturday’s decision by organisers – an extremely rare one – was made to preserve the surface.

Ghana coach Avram Grant was heavily critical of the pitch after Black Stars defender Abdul Rahman Baba’s tournament was cut short when he suffered a serious knee injury in his team’s opening 1-0 win over Uganda.

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com