Guinea coach, Paul Put, has replaced Baissama Sankoh with striker Lass Bangoura after the former suffered a knock to his right thigh in the friendly game against the Pharaohs.
The Caen right full-back was withdrawn in the 39th minute of the 3-1 loss to the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) hosts and was replaced with Mikael Dyrestam. However, after further examination from the medical team, the France-born defender has now been ruled out of the Afcon finals scheduled to kick off on Friday.
Following the injury blow, Put has called up Vancouver Whitecaps striker Bangoura.
The striker, who is currently on loan from Rayo Vallecano has made 33 appearances for the Syli Nationale, registering four goals.
He is no stranger to the African Cup of Nations, having represented Guinea in the 2012 edition which was hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Guinea, have lost all three Afcon preparatory games – scoring just once. Paul Put might have identified that as a concern, hence, the decision to replace the injured defender with a striker.
Put’s men are scheduled to kick off their Afcon campaign on Saturday against Madagascar, before squaring up against the Super Eagles of Nigeria on June 26. They will then round up their group stage fixtures against Burundi on June 30 at the Al-Salam Stadium in Cairo.
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