UD Almería waiting to learn African Cup of Nations' results
Both Ghana with Baba and Guinea-Bissau with Mendes and Marciano in the squad lists are to play this Monday the last game of the group stage. The midfielder's national squad has chances to continue in contention in the tournament
While UD Almería are immersed in the LaLiga EA Sports, the African Cup of Nations is taking place in Ivory Coast with the participation of three UD Almería footballers: Baba, who plays for Ghana as well as Mendes and Marciano, who compete with the Guinea-Bissau squad.
The Andalusian Club are waiting to see what may happen this Monday in the last games of the group stage. Guinea-Bissau has practically no chance of remaining in contention in the tournament. In fact, they're last in Group A with 0 points. They lost 2-0 the opening match to the hosts and last Thursday against Equatorial Guinea 4-2. Neither Mendes nor Marciano featured in the first of the matches. The centre-forward came on as a second-half sub in the 63rd minute.
The Guinea-Bissau squad take on Nigeria at 6pm this Monday, second in the Group hoping to progress into the next stage. The one who does have the most options to continue in Africa is Baba with the Ghana senior squad. His national team is 3rd with 1 point. Last Thursday, they tied with Egypt (2-2) with the UD Almería midfielder playing 28 minutes. In the first game, with a 2-1 narrow defeat to Cape Verde, he started and was in action for the full 90 minutes.
This Monday, Ghana will be locking horns with Mozambique, last in their Group and they are forced to win. If they do so, the Ghanaians could be placed second as long as Egypt lose to Cape Verde, although they could also be one of the Group III African squads that qualify for the next round.
With all this in mind, Mendes and Marciano are highly likely to return to Almería city soon, while Baba would continue to be absent in Spain for a longer time since the knockout stage will not begin until next Saturday, 27th January.