Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy struck a dramatic stoppage-time winner to seal a vital 1-0 victory for Guinea over the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers on Saturday.
The 28-year-old forward latched onto a cross at the far post, smashing the ball past DR Congo’s goalkeeper Dimitry Bertaud. The goal marked Guirassy’s sixth in the qualifiers, making him the tournament’s top scorer, ahead of Morocco’s Brahim Diaz, who has four.
The win pushes Guinea to nine points, two ahead of Tanzania. Guinea will qualify for the AFCON finals if they avoid defeat against Tanzania in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.
The defeat ended DR Congo’s impressive run of eight consecutive clean-sheet victories in qualifiers. The Congolese had reached the semi-finals of the 2024 AFCON, knocking out Guinea in the quarter-finals.
Earlier in the day, Tanzania beat Ethiopia 2-0 in Kinshasa, thanks to goals from Simon Msuva and Feisal Salum. Msuva opened the scoring with a near-post header from a corner in the 15th minute. Salum doubled the lead 16 minutes later, heading home at the second attempt after his initial effort was parried by goalkeeper Seid Habtamu.
Guinea and Tanzania are among 11 teams competing on Monday and Tuesday for the final five places at the 24-nation AFCON tournament, ensuring an intense climax to the qualifiers.
