By: Alusine Rehme Wilson
Sierra Leone’s Mano River Union (MRU) neighbours Guinea on Sunday defeated Equatorial Guinea 1-0 at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Ebimpe to end its 48 years wait since they last won a direct elimination match at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The Guineans will remember the name of their 25-year-old forward Mohamed Bayo for scoring the vital goal in the last minutes of added time that was just enough for them to knockout their day’s opponent Equatorial, and progress to the quarterfinals of the on-going TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2023 in Côte D’Ivoire.
Head coach Kaba Diwara of Guinea credited their win to the players commitment, describing it as “a great achievement by the current generation of Guinean footballers. This is the reward for hard work we’ve been doing before and during the AFCON,” he said.
Despite being eliminated from the AFCON where his side was considered as top contenders after topping their group ahead of Nigeria and Cote D’Ivoire, Juan Micha of Equatorial Guinea praised his players for playing well. “My players played well but ran out of luck to score, and that’s just how football could be. We’re returning home to prepare again for upcoming challenges,” he explained.
As the continent’s round of 16 concludes today, Guinea will on Saturday face DR Congo who defeated Egypt 8-7 on post-game penalty shootout on Sunday night while Nigeria who earlier defeated Cameroon 2-0 on Friday will face Angola in another quarter final fixture the same day.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that the other quarterfinal matches will get underway the following day with the four winners of the last four round of 16 matches set to face off in the race for a slot to the semi-finals.
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