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Liverpool fans: get to know Naby Keita’s national side – Guinea

By Karl Harrington

Guinea's National football team players (From R) Issiaga Sylla, Naby Keita and Francois Kamano celebrates a goal during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying football match between Guinea and Libya at the Stade du 28 Septembre in Conakry on August 31, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / CELLOU BINANI (Photo credit should read CELLOU BINANI/AFP/Getty Images)
Guinea's National football team players (From R) Issiaga Sylla, Naby Keita and Francois Kamano celebrates a goal during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying football match between Guinea and Libya at the Stade du 28 Septembre in Conakry on August 31, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / CELLOU BINANI (Photo credit should read CELLOU BINANI/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Naby Keita may have only worn the Liverpool shirt a couple of times but he is fast becoming a fan’s favorite. With the international break upon us here is the chance to learn a little about Naby’s homeland, Guinea.

A brief history of football in Guinea

Guinean football was at its Zenith in the 70s. It was an era when African leaders used domestic and national teams to portray power and success.

The Guinean president at the time was Sekou Toure – a virtual dictator who also fancied himself as an astute tactician.

The country was flush with offensive talent and with players forbidden to transfer abroad Toure developed a super club within the state: Hafia FC. Cherif Souleymane provided the team’s artistry and played behind a potent attacking trident of Maxime Camara, ‘Petit’ Sory, and Alioune Keita.

In ’72 and ’75 Hafia reached the pinnacle of African club football winning the Championship Cup (the African Champions League).

The national side also came within a whisker of ultimate success within the continent, finishing second in the ’76 African Cup of Nations (AFCON). Guinea were undefeated throughout the tournament and rather unfortunate that it was played out in round robin format that year.

But silver pleased Toure who, as seen in Ian Hawkey’s Feet of the Chameleon, praised the squad upon their return to Conakry stating: ‘you have shown a character that everybody else admires and respects.’

However, later that year Hafia failed to retain the Championship Cup, losing out to Algeria’s MC Alger in the final, and Toure was not feeling as welcoming when the side returned. ‘The defeated players,’ writes Hawkey, ‘were incarcerated for several days in one of Guinea’s grim torture-house prisons and roughed up.’

Whether by sheer terror or genuine attacking quality, Hafia reclaimed the Championship Cup in ’77 – the last time to date a Guinean club achieved such glory.

In the following decades Guinea drifted to the backwaters of the footballing world. They eventually returned to respectability at the beginning of the century, largely thanks to ex-Liverpool man Titi Camara.

Camara who holds cult hero status at Anfield scored three times in the 2004 AFCON as Guinea reached the quarter finals. The Syli nationale went on to make the last eight again in ’06, ’08, and ’15.

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