Guinea – Gambia | 24/01/2022 AFCON.

Two West African sides will battle it out at the Stade Omnisports de Bafoussam as Guinea and Gambia go head to head for a place in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday. While the Syli National picked up four points from their opening three games, Gambia have enjoyed an unbeaten campaign so far, finishing only behind first-placed Mali on goal difference after picking up seven points in Group F.

Guinea are looking to go one better than their previous Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals appearance when they exited at the Round of 16 stage, but must bounce back from a surprise 2-1 defeat to Zimbabwe that saw them finish second in Group B. That was their fifth game in six to witness the team that opened the scoring go on to win, so they’ll be keen to strike first here.

Doing so will need an improved performance against tournament debutants and surprise package Gambia, although Guinea have never lost an AFCON qualifying match against them (W4, D2). They’ll hope their prior experience of tournament football counts for something, even if they’ve lost each of their last three AFCON knockout matches ‘to nil’!

Could Gambia extend that record to four? One goal in each group game was enough to see them into the knockout stages with an unbeaten record (W2, D1), and after keeping five clean sheets across their last seven full internationals against African opponents, frustrating Guinea’s early salvos could see them grow in confidence, making victory more likely.

However, three of the four goals their group games produced came after the 75th minute and a tournament that’s often witnessed games coming to life later means late action can’t be ruled out. Much less likely is a repeat of the first ever H2H in 1972 when Guinea ran out 8-0 winners during an All-Africa Games qualifier – still Gambia’s record defeat.

 

Date: 24/01/2022
Time: 19:00
Venue: Kouekong Stadium (Bafoussam)
Pick for this match:
“1” – @ 2.45 ( BETWAY )

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