TANGIER- The scene is becoming too recurrent for Guinean football. An opponent rushing onto the field, in immense cries of joy, in the heart of a euphoric round. On the Guinean side, heads bowed, slow steps, we ruminate on the wasted opportunities and to this end we feed great disappointments. This is the sad image that keeps coming up every time the Guineans play decisive matches.
But the hardest thing to digest is not elimination. It is rather this detestable feeling of satisfaction that Guineans nourish, with fallacious pretexts revealing the lack of ambition of the populations and their leaders. It is the consolatory rhetoric that maintains that we have nevertheless played well.
The height is the shameful confession of the coach of the young hopefuls, in a press conference who affirms, without commiseration, that the team is a novice and that it was not expected at this stage of the competition, as to get rid of the disappointment. Strangely, many Guineans have taken up this disavowal.
We heard this nonsense again a little less than a month ago, when the seniors, the band of Naby Keïta, were defeated in their double confrontation against Egypt and Brazil. It’s called the Guinean curse.
This Friday evening, while hopes were high to see Guinean football historically express itself at the Paris Olympics, the players let their luck slip away in front of the Malians, the pet peeve. Beaten on penalties 4-3, at the end of a match which was however close at hand, the team of Morlaye Cissé should succeed in the shoot-off which it should play against an Asian team.
The leaders of CONOR, who are due to leave soon, should cynically be happy to be able to manage, possibly, a last budget-intensive meeting of their mandate.
Edito Guineafoot
