ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire – Emilio Nsue scored twice as Equatorial Guinea routed Côte d’Ivoire 4-0 in Group A match to leave the host nation on the verge of elimination from the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Nigeria booked their passage into the AFCON last 16 after a first-half own goal from Guinea-Bissau’s Opa Sangante handed them a 1-0 victory, which was enough to earn them second place in Group A.
“We knew that the opponent had a lot of pressure, we took that into account when putting our strategy in place. With our humility, we made the effort to reach as far as possible. We are working to reach the level of the big guys. What we want is to do our job, believe in ourselves and try to win every time,” Equatorial Guinea’s coach Juan Micha said.
“There are sometimes nightmare matches, 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 which are disallowed; we have witnessed a perfect disaster. We have three points, we won a match, the four best third places are qualified, we will hope,” Côte d’Ivoire’s coach Jean-Louis Gasset said.
“We have an efficiency problem. In 180 minutes, we didn’t score a goal and yet we made substitutes to have more attackers. The result was catastrophic; I know that I am the main responsible person,” he added.
Côte d’Ivoire was left to rue a host of missed chances as Nsue opened the scoring before the break, and Pablo Ganet fired in a brilliant free kick after it, two minutes before the 34-year-old Nsue capped his performance with his fifth goal of the tournament.
Jannick Buyla completed the rout on a counterattack in the 88th, AP reported.
It sent Equatorial Guinea into the knockout stage as group winner with seven points.
Thousands of Ivory Coast supporters filed out of the stadium late on as Equatorial Guinea scored three goals in 15 minutes to embarrass their opponents.
The Ivorians started brightly but struggled to create any clear-cut chances, with Oumar Diakite’s wild effort off target after a poor punch by Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Jesus Owono their best opportunity in the opening 25 minutes.
Hosts Côte d’Ivoire faces an anxious wait to see if they will advance as one of the best third-place finishers with three points and a minus three goal difference.
Elsewhere, Nigeria’s Moses Simon sent in a low cross from the left looking for Victor Osimhen but as Sangante attempted to clear ahead of the striker he could only steer the ball into the roof of his own net after 36 minutes.
Nigeria finished on seven points from three games, behind surprise package Equatorial Guinea on goal difference.
Nigeria dominated the game but poor finishing meant it was a tense encounter to the end, with Osimhen missing several chances to secure the three points earlier in the contest and both teams having late goals correctly ruled out for offside.
Nigeria will be pleased with back-to-back wins after a limp start in their pool opener against Equatorial Guinea but there is still work for coach Jose Peseiro to do to get them fully firing.
Peseiro’s team will now stay in Abidjan for a last-16 tie on Saturday at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium against the runners-up in Group C, which will be Senegal, Guinea or Cameroon.
On paper they have among the best attacks in the tournament, but three goals in as many games is a poor return and this clash with Guinea-Bissau illustrated their troubles.
They were wasteful in front of goal and at times looked disjointed as they battled to find cohesion in the final third of the pitch.
They had been trying to create clear-cut chances until they were handed a gift in the form of Sangante´s own goal, before Osimhen should have made it 2-0 when left unmarked in the box but he steered his header wide of the post.
Simon had the opportunity to double Nigeria´s advantage early in the second half but when faced with Guinea-Bissau’s Jonas Mendes he could not round the goalkeeper, who saved at his feet.
When Osimhen did have the ball in the net he clearly controlled it with his arm before scoring from close range.
The Napoli striker then had another chance to double the lead but again put a superb headed opportunity wide on an off night for the forward.
