Did the theft of Vinicius Jr’s jersey lead to Morlaye Sylla’s absence from CAN 2023? Zapped from the Syli National list, the talented midfielder experienced a completely crazy episode.
Vinicius Jr’s jersey, the heart of the problem
On June 18, 2023, Guinea faced Brazil in a friendly match. During the meeting, Brazilian domination quickly became evident. After resisting Vinicius Junior and his teammates during the first quarter of an hour, the national Syli conceded a first goal in the 27th minute, scored by Joelinton. Three minutes later, Rodrygo doubled the lead for the Brazilian selection, making it 2-0 in the 30th minute.
Despite conceding two goals in the space of three minutes, Serhou Guirassy managed to reduce the gap a few minutes before the break by scoring with a header from a cross from Issiaga Sylla. At halftime, Guinea trailed by only one goal, which surprised many observers.
Returning from the locker room, Brazil regained the advantage with a goal from Eder Militão in the 47th minute. After the hour mark, Kaba Diawara made a few changes to revitalize his attack, replacing S. Guirassy with José Kanté and F. Kamano with Yadaly Diaby, but to no avail.
Late substitutions of Morlaye Sylla, Seydouba Cissé and Mohamed Camara could not prevent Guinea’s defeat, as with two minutes left in the match, Vinicius Junior sealed the Brazilian victory by scoring the fourth goal in the 88th minute.
Morlaye Sylla sanctioned because of Vinicius Jr’s jersey?
The national Syli finally lost with a score of 4-1 against Brazil, who had played in the first half in black jerseys as a sign of the fight against racism in football. At the end of this match, Morlaye Sylla was able to obtain Vinicius Jr’s jersey. However, once in the locker room, this Vinicius Jr jersey had mysteriously disappeared.
Morlaye Sylla then allegedly insisted on searching the entire locker room, including coach Kaba Diawara . By accusing his teammates and his coach of “thieves”, the Guinean midfielder created a tense atmosphere in the locker room. So far, he has not apologized to his teammates, undoubtedly justifying his absence from the list of 25 for CAN 2024.
For Abdoulaye Camus, “a player who accuses his teammates of stealing Vinicus Jr’s jersey, who does not stop there and even goes so far as to demand that all the players, including his coach and all his technical staff, unpack their luggage to be searched because of a jersey given by Vinicius, has no place in this team.”
After Vinicius Jr’s jersey, the crush of Ibrahima Cissé!
This particularly extravagant situation was followed by another incident within Syli National. Indeed, Ibrahima Cissé, excluded from the list of 25 players called up for CAN 2023, attacked coach Kaba Diawara. On his Snapchat account, the former Standard de Liège player declared: “This s*** coach. You have to insult this coach’s mother (he’s not even a coach). This country works backwards. Never seen. Zero consistency. I’m not in the mood, people who are going to come and defend this coach, I’m going to insult his mother and block him. »
After becoming aware of his outburst, the defensive midfielder apologized during his appearance on the Guinean channel CIS TV. “What happened yesterday wasn’t me who wrote it. It was my friend who wrote,” he tried to justify himself. “I deleted it, but people had already captured it. But I accept and I ask forgiveness from Kaba Diawara with whom I have a good relationship, forgiveness from the coach and the people of Guinea,” he added. Tardily.
