Stuns AFCON 2023 hosts Cote d’Ivoire with 4-0 win
Equatorial Guinea striker Emilio Nsue scored twice in his side’s 4-0 rout of hosts Cote d’Ivoire, which gave them the top spot in Group A and a place in the last-16 at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. AP – Sunday Alamba
Equatorial Guinea caused one of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023’s upsets with a 4-0 demolition of tournament hosts in their Group A match on Monday.
Nzalang Nacional produced a seismic shock in world football by thrashing the Elephants in the game played at Ebimpe’s Alassane Ouattara Olympic Stadium.
In one of the competition’s greatest upsets, the minnows ripped apart the fancied Ivorians thanks to an Emilio Nsue double and goals from Pablo Ganet and Jannick Buyla.
Nsue’s brace extended his lead on the goalscoring charts to five, along with further strikes by Pablo Ganet and Jannick Bulya that saw Equatorial Guinea stun the football world.
The Nzalang Nacional advanced to the tournament’s knockout stage as they finished at the top of the group even though they were level on seven points with second-place Nigeria.
The result leaves the home side’s chances of progressing to the knockout phase hanging by a thread as they finish third place in Group A.
As expected, with the crowd’s backing, the Elephants got off to a better start. Still, a lack of accuracy in front of the goal saw them miss several clear-cut goalscoring opportunities, which they later regretted.
They informed Nsue that he found the back of the net with a neat finish from close range in the 41st minute to send his side into the lead ahead of the recess.
In the second stanza, the Elephants pressed for the lead but were denied by Equatorial Guinea, with two of their goals also denied by VAR.
The Elephants’ momentum was broken by a wonder strike in the 72nd minute by Pablo Ganet, whose well-taken free-kick found the top corner of the net to double the lead.
The lead was further stretched immediately after the restart after Nsue finished a quick counterattack to make it three.
The final nail in the coffin was hammered by Jannick Buyla, who finished off a rebounded effort to seal an emphatic win for his side.
The humiliating defeat means the Elephants must now wait to discover if they have progressed to the tournament’s knockout phase.
But for Equatorial Guinea, this famous four-goal demolition topped Group A ahead of their highly fancied opponents, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire.
Having lowered the boast of one of Africa’s strongest sides, the minnows from central Africa have suddenly emerged as giant killers.
Post-match reactions:
Juan Micha – Equatorial Guinea Coach
“We knew that the opponent had a lot of pressure. We took that into account when putting our strategy in place. We made the effort to reach as far as possible with our humility. We are working to reach the level of the big guys. We want to do our job, believe in ourselves, and try to win every time”.
“Regarding Cote d’Ivoire, I am hurt because it is the organizing country, but it is football. The objective is to go through the different stages until the end. We must forget this match and plan for the rest of the competition.
Jean-Louis Gasset – Cote d’Ivoire Coach
“There are sometimes nightmare matches where everything seems to be against you. We conceded a goal in the first half on the opponent’s only opportunity. We score goals that are disallowed, and we have witnessed a perfect disaster. We have three points, we won a match, the four best third places are qualified, we will hope.
“We have an efficiency problem. In 180 minutes, we didn’t score a goal and made substitutes to have more attackers. Today, the result was catastrophic; I know I am responsible”.
