‘Narco-state’ in Nations Cup finals
Guinea-Bissau secure a place in Gabon next year
uinea-Bissau’s qualification for January’s African Nations Cup must rank as one of world football’s most extraordinary achievements, with the former Portuguese colony being labelled a “narco-state”. One of the world’s poorest countries, the tiny west African nation has been beset by almost constant political turmoil and has earned unwanted notoriety as a transit point in the shipment of cocaine from south America to Europe, with both the government and the military said to be complicit in the trafficking of drugs.
Football has barely existed amid the poverty, with Guinea-Bissau only irregular competitors in international events, rarely entering clubs in the annual CAF competitions and hardly ever participating in the qualifying tournament for under-age World Cups.
But taking a cue from neighbouring Cape Verde, the “Djurtus” have sought to strengthen their side with players from the diaspora. And even though they lost their Portuguese coach Paulo Torres to a lengthy suspension – four matches for abusing a referee – after just two games of the campaign, Guinea-Bissau are now in an unassailable lead in their African Nations Cup qualifying group, ahead of 2012 winners Zambia, 2015 quarter-finalists Congo and hapless Kenya.
Guinea-Bissau’s squad has consistently changed, with stand-in coach Baciro Cande bringing in new additions almost game by game. Two of the newcomers, Frederic Mendy and Toni Silva, scored on their debuts as a 3-2 win over Zambia, which – followed 24 hours later by Congo’s failure to beat Kenya in Nairobi – ensured a place at the finals.
Finishing top of the group is remarkable given Guinea-Bissau had won just four competitive internationals before the qualifiers began. And only once before had they ever made it past the knockout elimination ties and into the group stage of either a Nations Cup or World Cup qualification campaign.
Their achievement is made even more incredulous by the fact that their squad went on strike before the home victory over Zambia, refusing to train for three successive days because they had not been paid promised appearance fees and bonuses.
While they have nothing of the stark time warp that Guinea-Bissau seem to exist in, Zimbabwe have also qualified for the finals, despite overcoming considerable obstacles – including a bankrupt football association, whose possessions are regularly seized by the court sheriff to pay debtors, and a long-running match-fixing scandal.
Zimbabwe’s 3-0 victory at home to Malawi in their June qualifier moved them three points clear of Swaziland, who could yet snatch one of the two berths reserved for the best runners-up and join a growing list of fairy-tale qualifiers for the finals.
Swaziland beat Guinea 1-0 to end the west African nation’s hopes just a week after Luis Fernandez had quit as Guinea coach. A change of leadership in the Guinea football federation was the spur for the former France international to head back to his role as a high-profile pundit on French radio.
Algeria qualified comfortably with an interim coach after Christian Gourcuff also left just weeks before their penultimate qualifier.
Hosts Gabon, along with Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Morocco and Senegal have also qualified for the finals.
The remaining six places will be decided after the final qualifiers in September. Each of the 13 group winners are joined by the two best runners-up.