2022 FIFA WORLD CUP AFRICAN QUALIFIERS
Group I: Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Morocco, Sudan.
GUINEA BISSAU
The Djurtus of Guinea-Bissau will be hoping to make their maiden appearance at the global football mundai. The country’s biggest achievement in football is being able to qualify for the African Cup of Nations on three occasions with their maiden appearance in 2017.
Guinea Bissau coach Baciro Cande and his charges will be hoping to pull a surprise in the group when they play their first game against Sudan on September 4, 2021. Guinea Bissau will be relying on the experience of captain Jonas Mendes who has been capped 41 times. Other notable players in the squad include Nanu, Mama Balde and Joao Mario.
GUINEA
Another country that will be hoping to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup is Guinea. The Syli Nationale (National Elephants) first entered qualifications for the World Cup in 1974 but have failed to make it to the World Cup finals ever since. In 2001, FIFA expelled the country from the qualification process of the 2002 World Cup and 2002 African Cup of Nations due to government interference in football.
Captained by Liverpool offensive midfielder Naby Keita, the Syli Nationale will open their World Cup account away to Giunea-Bissau on the 1st of September, 2021. Frenchman Didier Six who has been in charge of the team since 2019. Guinea’s best finish in the Africa Cup of Nations was runners-up in 1976. The team reached the quarter-finals in four recent AFCON tournaments (2004, 2006, 2008 and 2015).
STORY BY KENNEDY BOAKYE-ANSAH.