SAN FRANCISCO, November 11, (THEWILL) – Guinea clashed with Chad in Round 3 of the African Cup of Nations Qualifiers of Group A on Wednesday. The Group had Mali on four points, the same as Guinea, Namibia on three and Chad stuck at the bottom with no points at all going into today’s fixture. The fixture was therefore a must-win for Chad to keep alive any chances of qualifying out of the group.
The Chadians knew this and showed early resolve to get results but could only boast of two yellow cards for their efforts in the first half. Bechir Seid in the 24th minute and Marius Mouandilmadji in the 42nd minutes saw the referee reach into his pockets and brandish a yellow card for bookable offences.
Guinea which had tried probing the defence of the Chadians finally found a breakthrough in the 45th minute through the efforts of Mohamed Mady Camara. The Guinean number 15’s goal at the death of the first half was the highlight of the game.
In the second half which witnessed a raft of substitutions by both coaches doing their best to get a result, there was much of the same contest of the first half. Chadian Aboubakar Abderahim Alboury was to earn his country another booking in the 77th minute. But there was enough time left for substitute Ibrahima, who was brought in for Kamso Mara in the 67th minute of the tie, to get a yellow card for Guinea.
The game was soon over after that and the lone goal gives Guinea the three points necessary to claim the top spot in Group A pending on the result from the next fixture in the group when Mali will lock horns with Namibia in their own qualifiers on Friday, November 13.
In the other games played today in the AFCON qualifying series, there were stalemates of similar score-lines in Group E where Mauritania drew 1-1 with Burundi while Kenya drew 1-1 with Comoros in Group G.
In Group I, Senegal were easily the favourites against Guinea-Bissau and beat them 2-0 while an interesting game of football in Group J saw Equatorial Guinea fight to the end with two late 90th minute goals to overcome Libya 3-2 after the latter had led 2-1 from the 58th minute.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
