From the first participation, this team qualifies for the quarter-finals of the African Cup
The Gambia, in its first participation in its history in the African Nations Cup finals, continued writing history in the 33rd edition in Cameroon, after its victory over Guinea 1-0 in the "derby" of West Africa on Monday, to qualify for the quarter-finals.
The "Scorpions" team owes the victory to Bologna's Italian striker Moussa Barrow, who scored the only goal in the 71st minute.
The Gambian team played the match with ten players in the last minutes after striker Youssoufa Nji was sent off after receiving two yellow cards (87) 14 minutes after he came down instead of the Roma player Italian Ebrima Darbo, before sending off Guinea defender Ibrahima Konté in the third minute of stoppage time.
The Gambia, which is participating in the finals of the African Continental Championship for the first time in its history, has not tasted loss in its first four matches (3 victories and a draw), and it has become the second team in the twenty-first century to not lose any match in the four meetings it is playing in its first participation in the competition, after Madagascar in 2019 (two wins, two draws).
The Gambia ranked second in Group F after a surprising victory over Tunisia in the last round of the group stage, similar to Guinea, which finished runner-up to Senegal in the second.
The Gambia joined the "Carthage Eagles" and Burkina Faso, the first to qualify for the quarter-finals on Sunday, at the expense of Nigeria and Gabon, respectively.
Guinea coach Kaba Diawara, in the absence of his captain and Liverpool playmaker Naby Keita, and the injured French Toulouse player Sylla, adopted a 2-5-3 style with Mohamed Bayo in the lead alongside Jose Kante.
On the other hand, Gambia coach Tom Santveit made four substitutions to the squad, three of which were emergency, minutes before kick-off, after the English defender Natwich Town, Ibo Toray, born in Liverpool, and Saidi Janko, the Swiss-Italian, born in Zurich, who plays with Villarreal, and Noah Sonko with food poisoning. .
In the first half, the two teams shared the numbers with 50 percent possession of the ball and 5 shots, including one on goal, for each.
The "Scorpions" team fired a surprisingly strong ball from outside the area from Moussa Barrow, which was blocked by veteran goalkeeper Ali Keita (13), before the most dangerous opportunity appeared for Guinea in the 38th minute, after a pass from its leader, Roma player, Italian Amadou Diawara, to French Clermont striker Mohamed Elamine Bayo inside. The area, to hit a ball that was blocked by the defender and rebounded to him in a second attempt, and goalkeeper Babokar Gay found her on the lookout.
Against 4 shots by Guinea, whose best result remains runner-up in 1976, did not find the goal in the second half. Gambia opened the scoring after a superb pass from Italian Piacenza player Youssoufou Bob to Bologna Barrow striker inside the penalty area, who penetrated and dribbled and shot a ball with his left foot into the net ( 71).
Guinea thought that it had equalized with Ibrahim Conte's header, but the referee canceled the goal for offending the defender (77), before blocking the post first, then goalkeeper Gay and the Gambian crossbar, the chance of a tie (90 + 2).
The Gambia will meet with the winner of the confrontation of Cameroon and Comoros.
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