As Africa is counting down to the kick-off of the 2022 African Nations Cup (AFCON) finals in Cameroon on January 9, Guinea’s President, Mamadi Doumbouya, has warned the national team players to win the trophy or risk repaying the money spent on them.
Doumbouya hosted the players in Conakry and sent them off with a message before heading to Kigali, Rwanda, for a closed-camping session.
The message, however, left the Guinean team with a mountain to climb as the seemingly impossible was demanded.
“The cup or you repay the money that has been invested in you,” Col. Doumbouya told the players at their farewell meeting.
The team will keenly depend on the services of Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita and Ilaix Moriba, a former Barcelona midfielder who recently switched allegiance from Spain.
Doumbouya led the coup that resulted in the capture of former President Alpha Conde on September 5, becoming the West African country’s interim president as a result.
The 2021 AFCON in Cameroon will be Guinea’s 13th, with their best performance coming in 1976, when they finished runners-up.
Guinea is in Group B that includes favourites Senegal, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.