Last Chance

Guinea’s home match this weekend in Conakry against Cote d’Ivoire is the Syli Nationale’s last chance at salvaging their World Cup hopes. Any thing other than a win and the rest of the campaign will be about ensuring qualification for the Nations Cup in Angola.

Cote d’Ivoire are not the ideal opponent for a must win for this Guinea side. A side that has conceded a whopping 12 goals in their last 4 matches. A Cote d’Ivoire side that humiliated them 5-0 in Ghana at the 2008 Nations Cup. They also beat them in a friendly last fall. Guinea will have to conquer some demons in Conakry if they are to beat Cote d’Ivoire this weekend.

The pressure is on the players as well as manager Robert Nouzaret who will almost certainly be sacked in the event of a loss and maybe in the event of a tie as well. Guinea have brought most of the big names with the notable exceptions of the injured Fode Mansare and Alhassan Bangoura who has not been selected. Other than that it is a pretty standard squad. Experienced with some gifted attackers but also that same porous defense.

With their World Cup campaign on the line which Guinea side will show up? Does it even matter? While Guinea are more then capable of toppling Cote d’Ivoire if they play up to their potential that does not mean that I think that will happen. More likely Guinea’s defense will be reduced to shambles again and the home crowd will go home angry. Though it should be noted that Cote d’Ivoire failed to win a road match in the previous round against less than stellar opposition in Botswana, Madagascar and Mozambique. I think Cote d’Ivoire shows up and wins this game 3-1. I hope I am wrong but the Syli Nationale do not inspire confidence at the moment. Maybe Sunday they will change that.