AFCON 2025: Guinea's avoidable elimination
It's the kind of AFCON 2025 exit that will sting for a long time: Guinea lost their decisive qualifier against Tanzania on Tuesday and will not be going to Morocco next year.
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This is the kind of elimination that sticks in the throat, and for a long time. Having come within touching distance of qualifying for AFCON 2025, Guinea lost their decisive qualifier against Tanzania on Tuesday and will not be going to Morocco next year.
The Féguifoot, chiefly to blame
It is impossible to discuss the Syli National's elimination without pointing the finger at the Guinean Football Federation (Féguifoot), which sacked Kaba Diawara a month before the start of the qualifiers and appointed Charles Paquille as interim coach. The decision was controversial and was challenged by the Féguifoot's executive committee (Comex), which denounced the opaque, unilateral management of president Bouba Sampil, who runs the federation as if using a remote control with no batteries.
🚨 The Guinean Football Federation's COMEX has expressed its disagreement with Bouba Sampil's management in a letter!
In this letter, the members… pic.twitter.com/4lwG3hTAG0
— 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲́𝗲𝗻𝘀 🇬🇳🐘 (@Joueurs_GN) August 12, 2024
Read also: AFCON 2025 (Q): Guinea fall in Tanzania and will not see Morocco
Diawara's dismissal also upset the team's rhythm and surprised even most of the dressing room. As a result, Guinea lost their first two matches, against DR Congo (1-0) and Tanzania (1-2), Paquille was abruptly removed and Michel Dussuyer was brought out of retirement. The French coach turned the team around by winning the next three matches, but he and his players came unstuck in Dar es Salaam, where Tanzania are formidable.
Serhou Guirassy, the big loser
With 6 goals in 4 games, including a hat-trick against Ethiopia on matchday 3, Serhou Guirassy was the man who came to the rescue and brought hope back to Guineans, who already feared their country would be eliminated as early as October. Sadly, he will not play at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations despite being in the form of his life. For a player in the running for the 2024 African Ballon d'Or, which will be awarded on 16 December in Marrakech, it is a heavy blow. And for the 2025 Ballon d'Or, he starts well behind and will need a perfect club season to hope to be among the leading favourites.
Read also: Guinea: Michel Dussuyer, a risky return at the helm of the Syli National?
Having arrived injured at the last AFCON in Ivory Coast, Serhou Guirassy will now have to wait until 2027 and the three-nation edition hosted by Uganda, Kenya and... Tanzania to hope to play his first AFCON at full strength in a Guinea shirt.