Guinea-Bissau : Preparing To Spring Surprises

Guinea Bissau will be appearing in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament for the fourth time. They will play in group A with the host country, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria. From all indications the Djutrus will be going to Côte d’Ivoire for business. The Djutrus began their AFCON history in 2017 and then qualified for the competition again in 2019, 2021, and 2023. Guinea-Bissau can rightly be described as outsiders in this group. Regular participants in the finals since their first appearance in 2017, the Djutrus have nevertheless been eliminated in the first round on each occasion.
Against top teams on the continent like Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria, their chances look slim but the recent history of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations shows that surprises are always possible. Inspired by performances such as Gambia's at the last edition, Mama Baldé's team-mates could pull off an upset. They beat the Super Eagles of Nigeria 1-0 in March in the qualifiers. Guinea-Bissau qualified for the 2023 TotalEnergies AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire after they beat Sierra Leone 2-1 in their last group qualifier in Bissau to put the icing on the cake on their qualification to next year’s continental showpiece. Guinea-Bissau team has a bunch of young talented players who can spring surprises in the AFCON. Coach Baciro Cande will be going to th...