The national team of Equatorial Guinea defeated the Ivory Coast 4-0 in the third round of Group A of the Africa Cup of Nations and secured participation in the round of 16 with an unexpected advance from first place. The lion’s share of the success of the coastal state from Central Africa was the two-goal Emilio Nsue, who confirmed his shooting appetite and led the Gunners table with five hits. The journey through the championship, on the other hand, can end for the surprised organizer, who, from the position of the third team, has to wait for the results from the other groups.
However, his hopes for advancement are not high, as no one has yet managed to advance with a three-point gain and such a negative score.
After the previous defeat, Ivory Coast was in third place in the table, but with a possible win, and with the contribution of Nigeria’s loss, they could have secured promotion to the play-offs from the first place. At the same time, the fact that they last lost two consecutive matches in the group at the African Championship played in their favor in 2002. However, Equatorial Guinea has performed very well so far, which they wanted to follow up against the home team.
The host country entered the match with greater commitment. However, most of the action ended with Nzalang’s responsible defense. Nicolas Pépé presented himself as one of the most active players, who, shortly before the half-hour mark, went through the opponent’s defense and bypassed the goalkeeper Jesús Owon. However, the ball got tangled between his legs and he couldn’t finish. All the efforts of the home team came to naught at the end of the half, when Carlos Akapo did a perfect job with the ball and served it into the small goal. Nsue was lurking there, confirming his role as the team’s top scorer and sending Equatorial Guinea into the lead. Immediately, Ibrahim Sangaré equalized, but due to offside, he did not rejoice for long.
The unfortunate from the first half continued to have bad luck in the second half when a cross fell to him from the side and the Nottingham midfielder shot from an angle into the open space between the three posts. The activity of the home team did not slow down. In the 67th minute, there was great joy in the stands when Jean-Philippe Krasso ran onto a brilliant cross and stuffed the ball behind Owona’s back. However, the celebrations were premature, as even this shooter did not watch the run-up and was offside. In the 73rd minute, Pablo Ganet added insurance to Nzalang’s win and promotion, who curled a free kick right into the left post. The organizer bet everything on the attack, but the risk did not work out. José Machín rushed into a quick counter-attack, in a two-on-one situation he passed the ball to Nsue, who headed straight for the right post. The final nail in the host’s coffin was hammered in by Jannick Buyl from the stop.
Thus, Equatorial Guinea caught the home team by surprise and secured promotion from the first row. The play-off games are scheduled from Saturday, January 27.
2024-01-22 19:11:00
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