The Pharaohs push Guinea to the limit

When we met the Guinean players in the locker room and we were not comforted by their demeanour.

We began to wonder if they could slow down an impressive Egyptian team that, from its first outing against Angola, had impressed all the on-lookers.‍

Guinea made the trip to Antananarivo with a reduced squad of eight players, the rest of the squad joining them for their second game. However, this did not seem to bother the timeless Serbian Coach Željko Zečević.

Any coach must adapt to the present situations. We must know all the difficulties that our federations encounter.

From the first quarter, Egypt was ahead by eight points. Displaying a succession of well-timed transition plays and a well-rehearsed communication plan, their shots kept dropping.

More of the same followed in the second quarter where they opted to keep the points in the paint forcing their opponents to commit to a 1on1 situation.

They exited the half with a 44 - 21 lead.

Back from the locker room and the game seemed to balance out. With Guinea taking and making more confident shots, they were able to tighten up their defence against the pharaohs.

Containing them meant going into the fourth with only a five-point deficit (17 - 12).

Reinvigorated by this newfound energy and pushed by a very vocal crowd, the young Guineans gave it everything they had and won the last quarter 7 - 10. But it wasn’t meant to be.

We really had a good game against a team that comes from the world and finished 10th, it's a great performance and especially in a game where we lost on free throws by missing 29 and playing eight

A satisfied Coach Zečević explained.‍

Egypt came to win the trophy and no one was going to stand in their way.

The final score was 68 to Egypt and 43 to Guinea.

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[Image/Photography Credit: FIBA]