Chan 2021 Wrap: Guinea open with huge win, defeated Namibia take lessons

Guinea opened their African Nations Championship campaign with a convincing 3-0 win over Namibia on Tuesday in Limbe.

Horoya AC forward Yakhouba Barry earned a brace in the opener while the other goal for the Syli National was scored by Morlaye Sylla to give the West Africans complete control of Group D.

A sloppy back pass by Immanuel Heita to his goalkeeper Edward Maova is what gave Barry a chance to open the scoring in the 13th minute. Just before the break, Barry’s Horoya AC’s teammate Sylla extended the lead with a curled effort.

Barry earned his second in the 86th minute when his feeble strike found the back of the net to make it 3-0 for his side.

Guinea looked a stronger side especially in the opening moments of the game and the result was an opener that came from a weak back pass by the Namibians.

Moussa Camara ensured the Southern Africans would not get an equaliser in the middle of the first half when he reacted quickly and stopped Elmo Kambindu’s effort with a timely dive. Camara was called to action again when he tipped over the bar a 30-yard free-kick from Ambrosius Amseb.

Guinea’s coach Mohamed Kanfory Bangoura explained the need of seriousness in every encounter.

“I am very delighted with the 3-0 win in our first match. We must treat every game with a lot of seriousness because every team that is here is strong,” Kanfory said as was quoted by Caf Online. “Although we beat Namibia, we did not underrate them from the start, but only selected a team that reacted well to win the game."

On his part, Namibia's Richard Bobby Samaria said they have picked their lessons from the loss.

“We take lessons from this defeat to Guinea,” Samaria said. “We conceded two goals because of some silly mistakes. There are no excuses here, but we lost to a well-prepared team of Guinea.

“We now need to go back to the drawing board to plan for our next game against Tanzania.”

In the first match of Group D, Tanzania were defeated 2-0 by Zambia.