FIFA U-17 World Cup: Guinea look to spring a surprise

Guinea’s best performance at the FIFA U-17 World Cup came in their debut year in 1985 when they finished fourth. They would hope to replicate the performance in the 2017 edition

Located on the west coast of Africa, this will be Guinea’s fifth finals appearance. Their best performance came in their debut year in 1985 when they finished fourth. But since then, they have exited in the first round thrice. Their road to the 2017 edition was tough but they managed to pull together to make it through. They qualified for the 2017 CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations by beating Morocco. In the group stage, they beat Gabon 5-1 and held continental heavyweights Cameroon and Ghana to make the semi-finals. Their dream run was finally ended by Mali before they secured a third place with a 3-1 win over Niger.

Guinea football fans would hope to see their team do well at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. (AFP)

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KNOW THE COACH: Souleymane Camara

Nicknamed ‘Abedi’ after his hero and Ghana legend Abedi Pele, he is among the well-known faces in Guinea having enjoyed a long and successful career as a player-coach. Besides guiding the Guinea, he is also the coach of first division side Satellite FC.

PAST PERFORMANCE: Fourth place: 1985. Group stage: 1989, 1995, 2015. Did not qualify: 1987, 1991, 1999, 2003-13. Did not enter: 1993.

PASSAGE TO INDIA: They finished third in the CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations to qualify.

Results in CAF U-17: Bt Gabon 5-1; dw V Cameroon 1-1; dw V Ghana 0-0; lost 0-2 to Mali on penalties (regulation time 0-0); bt Niger 3-1.