The Gambia national football team, The Scorpions, will today face west African rivals Guinea in the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations. 

The Scorpions have had a very impressive run at the tournament beating African giants Tunisia and drawing with Mali. 

The debutant have won hearts and minds in Africa and the world at large with their stoic and impressive performance at the continent’s biggest football tournament. 

This will be the first Africa Cup of Nations encounter between Gambia and Guinea. Kickoff will be at 4pm (GMT) at the Kouekong Stadium, Bafoussam in Cameroon. 

Gambia have the longest route to the tournament. The fairy tale journey started with a fine display against Djibouti in the qualifying round beating them on penalties before topping a group ahead of Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.

Despite being hard hit by a Covid-19 outbreak before the January 9 kick-off in Cameroon, The Scorpions have shown that they are a formidable team. 

Gambia, with two wins and one draw, remain unbeaten three matches in to their first Africa Cup of Nations and could become just the second 21st century debutants not to lose any of their first four matches in the competition, after Madagascar in 2019. 

Guinea’s Syli National booked their spot in the round of 16 courtesy of their second-place finish in Group B. 

However, they lost their final group game, with first-half goals from Knowledge Musona and Kudakwashe Mahachi helping an already-eliminated Zimbabwe exit the tournament with a win.