Guinea national football team
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| Nickname(s) | Syli Nationale (National Elephants) |
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| Association | Fédération Guinéenne de Football |
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| Confederation | CAF (Africa) | ||
| Head coach |  Titi Camara |
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| Home stadium | Stade 28 Septembre | ||
| FIFA code | GUI | ||
| FIFA ranking | 57 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 22 (August 2006) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 123 (May 2003) | ||
| Elo ranking | 60 | ||
| Highest Elo ranking | 23 (1977) | ||
| Lowest Elo ranking | 125 (June 1996) | ||
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| First international | |||
 Nigeria 4 - 1 Guinea (Lagos, Nigeria; 2 October 1960) |
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| Biggest win | |||
Guinea 14 - 0 Mauritania  (Guinea; 20 May 1972) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
 Tunisia 5 - 0 Guinea (Tunis, Tunisia; 5 August 1988)  Côte d'Ivoire 5 - 0 Guinea (Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana; 3 February 2008 |
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| African Nations Cup | |||
| Appearances | 9 (First in 1970) | ||
| Best result | Second place, 1976 | ||
The Guinea national football team, nicknamed Syli Nationale ("Nationl Elephant"), is the national team of Guinea and is controlled by the Fédération Guinéenne de Football. They have never qualified for the World Cup finals, and their best finish in the African Nations Cup was second in the 1976. This Guinean Team went three times straight to the quarterfinals (2004, 2006, 2008) only to go out to bordering countries each time. In 2004 they lost 2-1 to Mali, in 2006 they lost 3-2 to Senegal and in 2008 they were defeated 5-0 by Côte d'Ivoire.
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[edit] History
[edit] Golden Years: 1970-82
Guinea have long been a significant force in African football. They qualified for their maiden African Nations Cup in 1970 and again in 1974. During the1970s and early 1980s, its top club sides, including The Great HAFIA F.C. de Conakry, HOROYA A.C., A.S. KALOUM STARS were among Africa’s strongest sides and won many trophies, with HAFIA F.C. winning the CAF Champions Cup (now the Champions Leagues) 3 times (1972, 1975 and 1977) and 2 times as runners-up and HOROYA A.C. winning the 1979 African Cup Winners’ Cup (now the Confederation Club), and A.S. KALOUM playing in the finals and semi-finals in these two competitions.
During the final match at the 1976 CAN finals in Ethiopia, Guinea came within minutes of winning the African Nations Cup, but a late equaliser for Morocco meant they finished runners-up. According to a recent FIFA publication about African football, Guinea dominated the entire match, but failed to take their several chances, including twice vis-à-vis with the Moroccan goalkeeper. Morocco capitalized on their best chance in the entire game to equalize. Clearly, Guinea was a better side than Morocco in that final game, but, lost due to the inscrutable nature of the “beautiful” game of football. They qualified for the tournament again in 1980, which would be their last appearance for 14 years. Qualification for the World Cup eluded them during this period, with runs to the third round in the 1978 and 1982 qualifying series being their best performances.
Notable international players in this period included:
- Abdoulaye "Banks" Keita
- CHERIF Souleymane (the 1972 CAF African Player of the Year)
- Ousmane THIAM "Tollo"
- Ibrahima Sory KEITA "Petit Sory"
- Mamadou Aliou "Njo Lea" KEITA (the 1976 CAN Top Scorer)
- Amara TOURE (The “King Pele” of Africa in the 1970s)
- Naby Laye "Papa" CAMARA the 1976 and 1977 CAF African Player of the Year Runners-up)
- Bengally SYLLA
- Seydouba BANGOURA
- Kerfalla BANGOURA
- Cheik Mohammed KEITA
- Maxime CAMARA
- Bernard SYLLA
[edit] Post-1982
After 1982, Guinea endured a decade of anonymity before the emergence of Titi Camara in the early 1990s ushered in a new generation which qualified for the 1994 African Nations Cup. Since then they have qualified for 1998, 2004 and 2006 tournaments, reaching the quarter-finals in the latter two. They have qualified for the 2008 tournament.
[edit] Guinea Football Achievements
- Amilcar Cabral Cup :
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- 5 Times Champion (1981, 1982, 1987, 1988, 2005)
- 1 Time Runners-up
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[edit] World Cup record
- 1930 to 1962 - Did not enter
- 1966 - Withdrew
- 1970 - Entry not accepted by FIFA
- 1974 to 1998 - Did not qualify
- 2002 - Disqualified by FIFA during qualifying
- 2006 - Did not qualify
[edit] African Nations Cup record
- 1957 to 1962 - Did not enter
- 1963 - Disqualified for failure to provide neutral officials
- 1965 - Did not qualify
- 1968 - Did not qualify
- 1970 - Round 1
- 1972 - Did not qualify
- 1974 - Round 1
- 1976 - Second place
- 1978 - Did not qualify
- 1980 - Round 1
- 1982 to 1992 - Did not qualify
- 1994 - Round 1
- 1996 - Did not qualify
- 1998 - Round 1
- 2000 - Did not qualify
- 2002 - Disqualified for failure to reinstall FA functionaries
- 2004 - Quarterfinals
- 2006 - Quarterfinals
- 2008 - Quarterfinals
[edit] Current squad
| Head Coach |
Players selected for the friendly match against South Africa on 9 September 2008.
[edit] Recent call ups
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The following players have been called up for the team in 2008.
| Name | DOB | Club | Caps (goals) | Most Recent Call up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | ||||
| Naby Laye Diarso | 1 January 1977 | Satellite FC |
v Ivory Coast, 3 February 2008 | |
| Defenders | ||||
| Boubacar Diallo | 25 December 1985 |  Gazélec Ajaccio |
1 (0) | v Kenya, 7 June 2008 |
| Daouda Jabi | 10 April 1981 |  Trabzonspor |
v Ivory Coast, 3 February 2008 | |
| Midfielders | ||||
| Samuel Johnson | 25 January 1984 |  Ismaily SC |
v Kenya, 7 June 2008 | |
| Naby Soumah | 25 January 1988 | CS Sfaxien |
3 (0) | v Ivory Coast, 3 February 2008 |
| Mohamed Cisse | 10 February 1982 | Bursaspor |
v Morocco, 24 January 2008 | |
| Ibrahim Souare | 14 July 1982 |  AO Kerkyra |
v Morocco, 24 January 2008 | |
| Jean Marie Sylla | 22 April 1983 | PAS Giannina |
v Morocco, 24 January 2008 | |
| Strikers | ||||
| Karamoko Cisse | 14 November 1988 |  Atalanta |
v Kenya, 7 June 2008 | |
| Alhassane Keita | 26 June 1983 |  Mallorca |
v Zimbabwe, 1 June 2008 | |
| Souleymane Youla | 29 November 1981 | Eskişehirspor |
v Ivory Coast, 3 February 2008 | |
| Victor Correia | 12 January 1985 | Cherbourg |
v Namibia, 28 January 2008 | |
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