VASCO
Having cheered their team during the World Cup matches in Goa and elsewhere in the country, fans from Guinea, a country in West Africa, left Goa early Saturday morning, on their return to their home town thousands of kilometres away. It was a party atmosphere as many Guinean fans arrived at the Dabolim airport along with their drums and flags, which they had got along with them to India, to cheer their team during the tournament.
"They may have been out of the tournament, but our Guinean team has won the hearts of fans in Goa and other parts of India. We lose sometimes, we win sometimes. But we still love our team for the efforts and the fight that they put up for this tournament," said a fan, Mariama Sidiki.
Germany beat Guinea 3-1 at Kochi to qualify for the knock-out rounds of the tournament on Friday. Earlier on October 7, Iran had beaten Guinea 3-1 in their opening Group C match at Fatorda and later on October 10, Costa Rica held Guinea to a 2-2 draw at the same venue.
"We had gathered to watch the crucial Group C match in Kerala, but after our team lost, we felt sad. However, we are very happy with the performance of our side. Our spirits are not dampened with the loss, but we feel the pride that our team was fondly known as the "stubborn attacking" team.
We enjoyed our stay in Goa and in India. It is a beautiful country and we loved the hospitality of Goans and Indians," said another fan, Aboubacar.
Guinea and Costa Rica were knocked out of the tournament with a point each. "Football is a sentiment that runs fierce in our country and in the last match, our team had more possession of the ball and even had more shots, but most of them were off the target. Well played Germany," said Mohamed, another fan.
Mohamed informed that they had arrived in Goa and were now leaving for Mumbai, from where they would be flying to Conakry, Guinea, with great memories of Goa, India and football matches during the World Cup.
