Diminutive Traore the star turn for Guinea

Guinea's midfielder Ibrahima Traore holds a press conference in Malabo, Guinea on January 23, 2015. By Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)

Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) (AFP) - Guinea's place in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals may have ultimately been won in a hotel meeting room, but that they got there at all was in large part down to Ibrahima Traore.

Traore was not present when Amara Dabo, the financial director of Guinea's sports ministry, picked out the winning ball to take the Syli Nationale through to a last-eight tie against Ghana at Mali's expense in a drawing of lots at the Malabo Hilton on Thursday.

But the 26-year-old winger was a constant menace for Guinea's opponents during the group stage in Equatorial Guinea, thriving on the responsibility that has come with being the stand-in captain in Michel Dussuyer's side.

In the absence of injured skipper Kamil Zayatte, 'Ibou' led by example with telling contributions in each of Guinea's 1-1 draws with the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Mali in Group D.

He set up the opening goal in the 1-1 draw with the Ivorians in Malabo and saw a shot crash off the woodwork in the second half before being given the official man of the match award.

Traore came away with that prize again after scoring a marvellous goal against Cameroon a few days later, and against Mali it was his shot that struck the arm of Salif Coulibaly as Guinea won a first-half penalty which was converted by Kevin Constant.

In a team that was written off by observers before the competition began, Traore has been the star turn. Not that he would say so himself.

"I have responsibility as captain when Kamil is not there, but star status? No. The collective is more important than having one star player. The most important thing for me is that the team wins," insisted the slightly-built left winger who is one of many players at this Cup of Nations to have been born in the suburbs of French capital Paris.

However, it is in Germany that he has made his name at club level. He was a teenager turning out for a lower-league team near Paris when he left for Hertha Berlin.

The 1.72m-tall dynamo left the German capital without making a great impression, with his coach Lucien Favre saying his physique was not suited to the demands of the Bundesliga.

And yet, after spells at Augsburg and VfB Stuttgart, it was Favre who brought him to Borussia Moenchengladbach on a four-year deal last summer.

- 'We deserve it' -

Meanwhile, he has been outstanding for Guinea, netting twice in Cup of Nations qualifying, including in a 1-1 draw with Ghana in October.

Qualifying in itself was a triumph over adversity for a country battling against the Ebola virus, which forced the Syli Nationale to play 'home' qualifiers in Morocco and complicated their life wherever they went.

"In Uganda, people didn't dare come near us. There were endless health checks and at the stadium the supporters chanted 'Ebola, Ebola'," said Traore, who knows how important footballing success is to the people of Guinea.

"When people are having difficulties they look to football for happiness. It is always important to perform well at the Cup of Nations but all the more so in the current context," he said at the start of the tournament.

And there were big celebrations in Conakry after the news broke that luck had been on their team's side in Thursday's drawing of lots.

However, Traore insists: "I don't think it's all down to luck. I think we deserve it for how we have played."