Musa Barrow scored a 71st-minute winner as Gambia continued their giant killing spree at the Africa Cup of Nations by pulling off an upset 1-0 win over Guinea in Bafoussam on Monday to advance to the quarter-finals.
Striker Barrow, one of the outstanding performers at the tournament, was set up by a defence-splitting pass from Yusupha Bobb but still had to take the ball away from the Guinea defence with his right foot and then put it onto his left for a fine finish to settle the last-16 tie.
The small west Africa country are the lowliest ranked of all the 24 participants at the tournament in Cameroon at 150 in the world and are making their debut at the finals. Gambia is managed by Tom Saintfiet, a coach who had also managed the Maltese national team for a short term in 2017-2018, then been sacked after it was revealed that he had applied for the Cameroon vacancy.
They will play the winner of Monday’s later match between hosts Cameroon and the Comoros Islands.
Gambia hung on near the end as both teams finished with 10 men, surviving an offside goal, two strikes against the woodwork and a handball call to hold on for a famous victory.
They also overcome a bout of food poisoning in their camp which meant two players had to pull out of the starting line-up an hour before kick off.
via Reuters
Image: Saleh Network Twitter
