Stars chop Guinea’s wings

IVORY COAST: Taifa Stars secured a vital 2-1 win over Guinea in their second match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers at Charles Konan Banny Stadium in Ivory Coast yesterday.

Mudathir Yahya netted the winner in the 88th minute to enable the visitors claim their first win in the unfolding qualifiers at an away venue.

It was a massive come back from Stars, as they crawled from behind to score twice and are now on the right track as far as the qualifiers are concerned.

Mohamed Bayo put the hosts upfront in the 57th minute, after using well a defensive error by Ibrahim Bacca to drive the ball to the bottom far post.

But Tanzania responded back in the 61st minute with a stunner from Feisal Salum, whose long-range powerful strike was too hot for Guinea’s goalkeeper Ibrahim Kone as it freely landed into the back of the net.

Stars were forced to make early substitution in the 10th minute as center back Dickson Job picked an eye injury after colliding with his Guinean counterpart and was replaced by Bakari Mwamnyeto.

Not much was seen in the opening half in terms of goal attempts with the hosts registering only one shot on target while Stars had none.

As it stands in Group H, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) lead with six points, seconded by Stars with four points, while Guinea are third courtesy of one point and at the bottom are Ethiopia.

Up next, Stars will face the DRC at Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa, DRC on October 6th for a third qualifying match, and the duo will interface at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on October 14th.

These two back-to-back games against DRC will define the destiny of Stars in the unfolding qualifiers, taking into account that possible six points will be hanging by a thread.

Already, President Samia Suluhu Hassan has pledged to provide 500m/- to Stars if they excel to qualify for the AFCON finals to be staged in Morocco next year.

The Deputy Minister for Culture, Arts and Sports, Hamisi Mwinjuma made announced that during a meeting he had with Stars players prior to their yesterday’s encounter, as a boost to make them play lungs out in their remaining fixtures.

However, after winning two qualifying matches in a row, DRC who are among group H favourites to advance into the finals, have gained the required momentum as they just need one more win to claim nine points, enough to take them further in the contest.

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In their opening fixture, DRC emerged 1-0 winners over Guinea at Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa, before upsetting Ethiopia 2-0 at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Monday.

Ethiopia are using Benjamin Mkapa Stadium as their home turf, due to the fact that they lack CAF standard venues to host such high profile matches in their country.

They have so far annexed only a point from two matches.

Tanzania first made it to AFCON finals in 1980 in Nigeria where they were packed in Group A alongside the hosts Nigeria, Egypt and Ivory Coast.

Their second appearance came in 2019 in Egypt, where they were put in Group C, with Algeria, Senegal and Kenya and they finished at bottom of the group.

Then in 2023, Tanzania again qualified for the AFCON finals and this time, the showdown unfolded in Ivory Coast where the country’s envoys were placed in Group F as well as Morocco, DRC and Zambia.