Guinea bounced back from their opening-round defeat against Mali by absolutely steamrollering Botswana. Sadio Diallo got Guinea off to a great start as he took advantage of some poor defending, finding himself able to drive home a low cross to make it 1-0 in the 15th minute, but Botswana, who impressed in their loss to Ghana, got back into the match thanks to some questionable play by Naby-Moussa Yattara, who brought down Jerome Ramatlhokwane, giving away a penalty and earning himself a yellow card in the process.
Guinea Vs. Botswana, 2012 Africa Cup Of Nations: Huge Win For Guinea Vs. 10-Man Botswana
Yattara nearly made up for his mistake when he saved Dipsy Selolwane’s initial spot kick, but he was well off his line and the assistant referee flagged for a retake, which Selolwane buried to level the scores - the country’s first ever goal in the tournament. That was the last time the game would look anything like close, as Guinea would immediately snatch one back and Botswana would subsequently fall apart.
It was Diallo who made it 2-1, once again taking advantage of the fact that nobody was marking him in the centre of the penalty area to finish first time past Modiri Marumo. Abdoulaye Camara added a third when a quick free kick caught Botswana napping and let him cut inside to power a shot home at the near post, and then a rather unsavoury incident doomed the match - Botswana substitute Patrick Motsepe went in on Pascal Feindouno with a really nasty tackle and was shown a straight red card. Ibrahima Traore made Botswana pay further when the resultant free kick was smacked in off the far post.
Guinea, up 4-1 at this point, were able to coast through a second half whose major storyline was Ismael Bangoura’s bizarre inability to score a goal. The striker hit the woodwork twice and the linesman missed a legitimate goal when Bangoura’s superb shot crashed off the bottom of the woodwork, crossed the line, and bounced out of play.
Although it looked like Guinea were happy to settle for 4-1, they added a pair of goals through Mamadou Bah and Naby Soumah late on to become only the third team ever to score six goals in a match at the Africa Cup of Nations. The really crazy thing? They could have had more.
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