Guinea-Bissau and Guinea will have a West African derby when they meet in their opening Group I 2022 World Cup qualifier in Nouakchott, Mauritania on Wednesday night, kick-off at 16h00.
Although both teams have never qualified for the global football showcase, Guinea will be motivated to host Guinea-Bissau in a neutral ground.
The Syli Nationale come into this stage of the 2022 qualifiers after a failed attempt in 2018 World Cup qualifiers, while Guinea-Bissau are in this stage of the qualifiers for the first time in recent years.
Guinea’s youth teams have competed on the world stage on multiple occasions, participating at the FIFA U-20 World Cup twice (Japan 1979 and Korea Republic 2017) and no fewer than four editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The Syli Nationale coach Didier Six is well aware of the task ahead of him and has cautioned the Guineans to be wary of the threat posed by the four teams in the Group I.
“On paper, we’re second favourites after Morocco but, as I just said, teams like Sudan and Guinea-Bissau have had some good results. This came as no surprise to be me because Africa’s smaller teams have come a long way and now make things quite difficult for opponents,” Six told FIFA website.
Guinea-Bissau were forced to have the match from Bissau after an inspection of stadia in the country, by the Confederation of African football, found none were up to international standard.
Instead Guinea-Bissau asked to hosts the match in Mauritania which also has direct flights from Portugal where most of the Djurtus players are based.
Under coach Baciro Cande the Djurtus have been on a gradual rise and they will be confident of a strong showing in the Qatar 2022 qualifiers.
They may no longer have the form and fervor which made them qualify for the last three Africa Cup of Nations but they are always not pushovers when they are playing home matches.
For this match Cande has named a strong squad, which includes the likes of France-based players David Gomis, Mama Baldé and star man Sori Mane, as well as many others based in top European leagues.
The other Group I match this week sees Morocco host Sudan in Rabat on Thursday, September 2.
