In 2021, he was unable to take his team beyond the round of 16. A trauma now erased. In this 2024 edition of the African Cup of Nations, Kaba Diawara allowed Guinea to reach the quarter-finals of the event. A first since 2015. In a match where the Guineans played more than 40 minutes in numerical superiority against Equatorial Guinea, Le Havre Mohamed Bayo, at the last minute, liberated an entire country at the end of added time (1-0, 90th +8).
Eighth minute of added time… never has a goal been scored this late in a CAN knockout match. Obviously, the great sentimentalist that is Kaba Diawara could not hold back his tears when leaving the pitch.
At the start of the competition, the man who wore the jersey of Bordeaux, Marseille and PSG between the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s spoke in our columns about his attachment to Guinea. “When I start talking about the country, I do it with so much heart. It’s not stress. It’s just that for me, the countryside is everything! Every time I talk about Guinea, I tremble,” he explained.
At the microphone of BeIN Sports, the former striker returned, very moved, to this qualification. “We stopped in the round of 16 two years ago, it really hurt us. And then we arrived here and we were criticized a lot. People didn’t necessarily trust us. So it was necessary to prove. You always have to prove, it’s simple,” he reacted as tears welled up in his eyes.
“There, we win at the last minute. We took a crazy gamble by bringing in two attackers who had never played together. We tried because there were 10 of them up front. I really wanted us to score before extra time. Honestly, I’m very happy. We put heart and desire into it each time. I don’t know what to say,” Kaba Diawara continued.
“The glass ceiling was there, it was that eighth. We’ve passed it so now we have to rest and we’ll see who can play and who can’t. Then we will make the team to go as far as possible,” concluded the Guinean coach with sobs in his voice.
