Print

Mail

wiki links

Guinea beat Morocco, stay in contention

Guinea moved back into contention for an Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final place on Thursday with a dramatic 3-2 win over Morocco.

This was a must-win game for Robert Nouzaret's men after losing their Group A opener to Ghana and they pulled it off with goals from captain Pascal Feindouno, who grabbed a brace, and Ismael Bangoura.

However, seconds after his second goal Feindouno celebrated by kicking out at Morocco's Amin al-Erbate to earn the Saint Etienne striker the dubious distinction of becoming the first player to be sent off at the tournament.

Robert Nouzaret, the Guinea coach, admitted he was relieved that his side were still alive.

"After our defeat by Ghana I was waiting for a reaction on the technical, physical and mental front and I think we succeeded," he said. "It's not always easy when you have to win, but we played better than our opening match."

On the absence of the influential Feindouno for their last group game with Namibia the Frenchman said: "The minute the referee sent him off I thought of that. It's very important, but I'll just have to find a different format without Pascal."

His Moroccan counterpart, Henri Michel, said: "We gave away too many presents. There was no Moroccan presence at the near post when they scored with the free kick, then we gave away a penalty."

"We've got to produce something special now against Ghana if we are to continue," he said.
This story has been viewed 3633 times.