2023-06-26 14:14:02
On Saturday June 24, Syli lost (2-1) to Morocco in the opening match of the 4th edition of the CAN-U23 African Cup of Nations. It all started well for Morlaye Cissé’s squad, however, who opened the scoring before the first half, only to be overtaken, then beaten by a tough Moroccan team galvanized by determined supporters. A defeat that the Guineans are still struggling to digest, pointing to refereeing errors.
It all happened in the second half. The decisions of the Somali referee Omar Artan qualified as “house referee” tipped the meeting with two contentious situations. Should the victory penalty scored at the end of additional time be whistled? From several angles of view, the images show that Ibrahima Fofana touched the ball with his hand, but outside the surface. Syli espoir pushed until the last second to tie the score. Naby Oularé scores for Guinea, but once again the referee intervenes. He disallows the goal for a very questionable handball from Ousmane Camara who struggled with the opposing keeper.
Sequal Diallo outraged
Vice-president of the Féguifoot standardization committee, Séga Diallo followed the match with “a lot of interest”. On RFI, he denounces inequalities concerning arbitration decisions. “We are outraged by the refereeing of this match. We do not understand that VAR does not work on contentious, clearly visible actions and that this penalizes our team”. He recalls that the Syli U-23 qualified on the pitch. “He prepared well and the authorities made the means available to us. We respect the CAF (African Football Confederation) and Guinea also asks to be respected and for fairness to be respected”.
According to him, they should meet in Committee to talk with the Guinean authorities in order to take the necessary decision.
Minister Béa Diallo, mobilizer
In the aftermath of the defeat of the young Guineans, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Lansana Béa Diallo, visited Syli HQ. He held a motivational speech for Algassime Bah and his teammates for the rest of the CAN-U23. “We saw how our players behaved, a magnificent first half. Guinea completely dominated the match. The second half was a bit more balanced because Morocco reacted in a very positive way. Except that we really did not have the advantage with the arbitration which was not very fair vis-à-vis Guinea.
Béa Diallo then points out that “life is made up of injustice, we are in a country that organizes, which is in a dynamic. In terms of sports and football, Morocco is shining. Guinea has shown that we have the ability to compete with them. We can lose a game, but I think the competition is only at the beginning, we still have two essential games to play. The Minister remains convinced that Guinea has the ability to win to pass the first round. He prays that the Syli find themselves in the final against Morocco “to take” “revenge”.
For its second outing, Guinea will challenge Congo on June 27. On its Facebook page, the Federation displays players who are already returning to the charge “with more determination”.
The Syli Espoir no longer has the right to make mistakes, if he hopes to finish among the three best teams in the competition and qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Abdoulaye Pellel Bah
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