Match report
Final score: Guinea 0-1 Gambia
Gambia make history, into the last eight on their first ever appearance at the finals. Musa Barrow’s goal was excellent, seizing on a fine pass from Bobb, and Guinea could never produce anything quite as good as that. It ended with two red cards, and it was often bruising stuff but Guinea go out, and Gambia progress.
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90+4 min: Kante sent off in the last seconds for Guinea and their chance goes with him. Gambia have done it!
90+2 min: Wow wow wow. There’s chaos in the area, as shot after shot is blocked, and there’s a call for handball from the Guinea players. Gambia’s were celebrating. The replay is not shown, and there’s no penalty. An amazing save from Gaye after Kante’s shot was as good as a goal. The ball had bounced off the post just before that.
90 min: Off goes Bobb, who supplied the assist for the goal, and on comes Mbaye the veteran. Three minutes added on for Gambia to see out.
89 min: Should Guinea find a goal they would be favourites in extra time but have never looked like scoring. Guilavogui then makes a mess of a cross.
Red card for Gambia's Njie!
87 min: A second yellow for Njie, and looks a harsh one, there was a little of an elbow flying in an aerial challenge. They came in quick succession for the sub who leaves in tears, taking his time to take down his shinpads.
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85 min: Kante’s shot is blocked and then Guilavogui, the second sub who just came on, gets involved. Then Kante tries an overhead kick, and fires over. The Gambian defence celebrate in rugby style.
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83 min: Couple of Guinea changes, and Kaba comes on for Bayo as one of them.
82 min: Gambia could find holes in Guinea’s defence, as they are committing players forward. Conte is booked for smashing into N’Jie, who had gone down the other end on the counter. Cisse and then Colley have bites of the cherry on the free-kick. Moriba, at the other end, wastes a good chance to set up a Guinea attack by shooting from a long way out.
80 min: Bobb, short for Kate, takes the ball upfield for Gambia as they try to stop the Guinean onslaught. It’s only a temporary respite. Guinea are still on the attack.
78 min: Conte, for Guinea, has the ball in the net but there’s a flag up and a delay for VAR. The referee is back by the video room.
76 min: First Guinea change, on comes Sylla for A Camara, and takes a free-kick immediately, and that comes off the wall again.
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75 min: Guinea try to hit back as quickly as possible, and Moriba has a chance to smash in a free-kick, but he can only thwack the ball against a massed wall.
73 min: The Gambia coach is not hanging around, brining on N’Jie and Ceesay for Darboe and Mo Barrow, that’s two attackers on.
Goal! Guinea 0-1 Gambia (Musa Barrow, 71)
Spoke too soon, and Gambia take the lead, a fine finish by Barrow, taking a pass down with his left, taking it down and finishing coolly.
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69 min: Kaba Diawara has his arms folded on the sidelines, his team unable to find a way through. Gambia’s attacking enterprise has gone for the moment but they are defending well....
67 min: The chances are thin and far between, and it looks likely that one goal should be enough here.
65 min: Gambia have a free-kick. Musa Barrow decides to shoot from an impossible distance and angle with predictable results, if you predicted he would get nowhere near the goal.
62 min: Looks like Jallow’s race is run for Gambia, and on comes Ebrima Colley of Spezia. In the meantime, our new Fiver looks forward to tonight’s later game.
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60 min: Gambia having to get through far much more defending now, as Mo Barrow gets back to help the effort.
58 min: Mo Barrow gets down the wing but is muscled out, and then Guinea go back to the other end, as keeps now happening. Gambian goalie Gaye claims the ball as he tries to calm his team down and then lumps it almost for touch at the other end.
56 min: The battle continues to be physical, the tackles and challenges heavy. All to play for, of course, and neither team is willing to offer any quarter. Every tackle is a cruncher.
54 min: Diawara almost finds space to shoot, and Colley comes across to make a fine tackle and block.
52 min: Jallow goes down under a Kante challenge and Gambia begin to worry about their main goalscorer. He’s OK to continue but the referee has to calm things down.
50 min: Kante heads over Camara’s corner, flicking it over and wide. Guinea’s greatest threat comes from the dead ball.
48 min: Guinea free-kick comes in and Conte almost directs it into the path of a teammate and then gets annoyed when nobody reads his intentions.
47 min: Gambia again set off at a rate, have the Guinean defence all of a flutter. Tense moments for Kaba Diawara.
46 min: The second half is underway in Bafoussam, and let’s hope for another bright start to the half.
The teams are back out, and it appears no subs have been made.
Half-time: Guinea 0-0 Gambia
After a bright start from both teams, it has become very tight. Neither team is willing to commit too much forward, meaning the speedy forwards are at a loss. Tempers seem to be fraying a bit, which may be something to look out for in the second half.
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45 min: Neat skill from Sow sets up a Guinea attack but he makes a mistake and Mo Barrow goes down the other end and misses the target. That was as close as we have come.
43 min: A delay in play, as the referee tells the captains of both teams, and the managers, that they should stop making VAR symbols at him. It’s descended into that level of action at the moment.
41 min: Mo Barrow tries on from distance, and suddenly there’s panic as Darboe is down, with Gambia players suggesting he was baulked as he released the ball. They have a case, it did look cynical. No booking waved at a Guinea player for that.
39 min: Bobb makes an error in midfield and then Bayo has a chance, before being smothered by Keita, who takes a whack for his troubles.
37 min: Guinea try a slow buildup, more their style as compared to the Gambians, who prefer to go on quick counters. At the moment, neither are effective.
35 min: Free-kick to Gambia and they will get int launched into the Guinea area? No, they instead choose to pass the ball around. It feels some time since a decent chance evidenced itself.
33 min: The ball hit into the Guinea area and Keita the goalie, smashes off Mo Barrow and falls to the floor. Play is immediately halted.
31 min: Mo Barrow briefly looks to have escaped the Guinea defence, only for the offside flag to pull the ball back.
30 min: Guinea’s coach, the Gunners legend Kaba Diawara, does not look too happy with his players.
28 min: Kante was at the back post as a free-kick was drifted in and from a combination of him mistiming his header and the ball being looped too high a chance goes begging for Guinea.
27 min: First yellow card: Gambia’s Bobb for a hack in midfield. He’s not complaining and takes his card with a nod.
26 min: It’s 50/50 on possession, and we are settling into a pattern. Neither team now seem too interested in committing too much forward.
24 min: Things ebbing away a little, and a binary scoreline and possibly penalties may already loom.
22 min: Bit more of a midfield battle now. Guinea’s Kante has a few kicks at Musa Barrow, as it gets more congested in there. No booking for now but on a warning.
20 min: It looks misty out there, and the action has slowed down a little after that breakneck-speed attack. The Gambians are doing more of the pushing, still. Tom Saintfiet, the Gambian boss, looks a little like Stephen Stills, and that he would be more than acquainted with the oeuvre of King Crimson.
18 min: There’s a collision in midfield, as Kourama slips and ends up on the wrong end of a Moriba tackle.
15 min: Line-up changes made in pre-match that confounded the international media, with Gambia’s Touray and Janko dropping out at full-back with injuries. From Jonathan Wilson, no less: “Ngum, the RB, is a midfielder; Jagne, the LB, is their veteran skipper, also not a FB.”
This is when having two men at this game comes in handy.
13 min: Hurried defending from Guinea as Gambia again push on, Musa Barrow turns and shoots and forces a fine save from Keita the Guinea goalie. This has not been a defensive game in any sense.
11 min: Back down the other end, in this game of no midfield. Guinea have a free-kick, on the edge of the box. Aguibou Camara loops it over.
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9 min: Another corner, it’s end to end, as Gomez knocks the ball behind with Guinea threatening. That’s cleared by Gambia, who break with speed and Mo Barrow goes down, a penalty would have been a tight call and the referee chooses not to make any decision at all.
7 min: Another skied shot, this time from Musa Barrow.
6 min: Modou Barrow and Musa Barrow attempt to link up, another corner resulting from their efforts and Musa Barrow fires in a corner that is only just cleared.
4 min: The corner is cleared, but is pumped back in, where Bayo, leaning back as he strikes the ball, fires over. It’s noisy out there in Bafoussam.
3 min: Konate, in for Sylla, another Guinea absentee as well as Keita, wins a corner.
1 min: And away we go, and Gambia go close almost from the get-go, with Bobb close to getting on the end of a cut-back.
Our man takes a scenic picture.
Speaking of Arsenal old boys - Guinea, down there in red, are managed by *the* Kaba Diawara #AFC pic.twitter.com/nPJ0ygRkyZ
— Nick Ames (@NickAmes82) January 24, 2022
The suggestion is that Guinea will play 3-4-1-2 and the Gambians will play 4-3-3.
The teams
Guinea: Keita, Sow, Ali Camara, Conté, Diawara, Cissé, A Camara, Kourouma Kourouma, Konate, Martinez, Bayo Subs: Conte, Dyrestam, M Camara, Kane, Kaba, Kone, Konate, Diallo, F Camara Siby, Sylla, Guilavogui
Gambia: Gaye, Janko, Gomez, Colley, Touray, Darboe, Marreh, Bobb, M Barrow, Jallow, M Barrow Subs: Jobe, Ngum, Jallow, Ceesay, Jagne Sohna, Jallow-Mbye, Jobe, Colley,Badamosi, Darboe, Om Njie
And Jonathan Wilson looked ahead to the last-16 ties for the Observer.
Comoros and the Gambia, both traditional minnows and at their first Cup of Nations, have reached the last 16. Comoros have perhaps been a touch fortunate but the Gambia have played with an impressive level of calm organisation and deservedly beat Tunisia to go through.
The excellent Nick Ames is out in Africa for the Guardian, as is Jonathan Wilson.
Their hotel for the three days before they face Guinea, nestled among idyllic foothills in Cameroon’s north-west, is easy on the eye but not on the basics needed for match preparation. Players have been sleeping four or six to a room, which risks being a particular issue during the Covid-19 pandemic, and they were initially required to share lodgings at their group stage accommodation in Buea. Tales of slapdash team hotels at the Cup of Nations are a reliable trope but arrangements of this kind seem beyond the pale.
Preamble
It’s a day for the small nations to shine in the AfCon, and while Comoros v Cameroon has taken worldwide attention with the lack of a goalie for the islanders, Gambia, the mainlanders, also in their first finals tournament, take the stage first, to face Guinea. They beat Tunisia and drew with Mali to get here, and Guinea may fear a team who have looked a tight, cohesive unit in Cameroon where many more fancied teams have come apart at the seams. There’s no Naby Keita for Guinea, which lessens the midfield power that Guinea’s foundations are built on; they lost to Zimbabwe in their final group game. Bafoussam, in the western, mountainous region of host nation Cameroon awaits.
