Paulo Duarte criticises ‘unfair’ draw after Guinea lose AFCON qualifier

Guinea coach Paulo Duarte has described the draw for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers as unfair after his side began their campaign with a 2-1 defeat by South Africa.

The result, recorded on the opening day of the PAMOJA tournament qualifiers in Orlando, leaves Guinea bottom of Group D without a point.

The group also contains co-hosts Kenya and fellow East African side Eritrea. Kenya have already secured their place at the finals because they are hosting the tournament, leaving Guinea, South Africa and Eritrea competing for the group’s remaining qualifying place.

Guinea, known as the National Elephants, last appeared at the continental finals in the 2023 edition in Ivory Coast. They reached the quarter-finals before being eliminated.

Asked after the defeat by South Africa which team he expected to join Kenya at the finals, Duarte said Guinea would continue to fight for qualification but questioned the way the group had been formed.

“It’s an open group first of all,” said Duarte.

“And I don’t understand how the draw was made when you look at the draw actually with the team of Kenya, Eritrea and South Africa I don’t think it’s fair in terms of the draw.”

Guinea still have both home and away fixtures to play, and Duarte said his team would focus on collecting the results required to remain in contention.

“But we have more games to play and the away game coming and the game at home as well we will do everything to actually get a result,” he said.

“But I feel the way that the draw was made by CAF is not right, it’s not fair.“

Despite the setback in Orlando, Duarte insisted that qualifying for AFCON remained Guinea’s target. He said the team would put the defeat behind them and concentrate on winning their remaining matches.

“Our objective is to qualify for the AFCON. There’s different options in terms of going through the qualification,” said Duarte.

“And obviously today we lost the game which is already scratched but we are going to put everything on our side to actually win the remaining games. But we want to win the remaining games so we can advance to the qualification of the AFCON.”