Hosts Ivory Coast are on the brink of a humiliating Africa Cup Nations exit following their 4-0 defeat against Equatorial Guinea in their final Group A game in Abidjan.
Emilio Nsue scored two goals, adding to his hat trick against Guinea-Bissau. Equatorial Guinea beat Nigeria to win the group by a goal difference.
Ghana lost to Guinea-Bissau 1-0 in the other game in the group.
My country, Ivory Coast, has only lost in the group stage once in the nine previous tournaments. That was in 2017.
Two-time champions will have to wait a long time to find out if they are one of the four best third-placed teams that will move on to the round of 16.
Because they just lost their biggest home game ever, Jean-Louis Gasset’s team needs a string of good results to stay in the competition.
“I don’t think it’s because of our state of mind, when I see the players in the dressing room crying, it hurts me,” said Ivory Coast coach Gasset.
“We tried, we gave everything I think. When you have a scenario like that, bordering on a nightmare, there’s not much you can say or do.”
Equatorial Guinea scored three goals in 15 minutes to humiliate Ivory Coast, and thousands of their fans left the stadium late in the game.
“We won a match, the best four third-places go through, we will hope,” insisted Gasset.
The Ivorians got off to a good start, but they didn’t have many clear-cut chances. Oumar Diakite’s crazy shot went wide after Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Jesus Owono made a bad punch. That was their best chance in the first 25 minutes.
At the half-hour mark, Nicolas Pepe looked like he was fouled in the box, but the winger chose to stay on his feet, and even though Owono came out to get the ball, there was no penalty.
Equatorial Guinea surprised everyone by going ahead with their first real attack right before halftime.
Back to the right Carlos Akapo snuck into the area and sidestepped a couple of weak challenges before setting up Nsue to head the ball into the bottom corner.
In the last few seconds of the first half, Ibrahim Sangare thought he had equalised, but VAR quickly ruled that he was offside, and the Ivory Coast midfielder was not awarded the goal.
Less than two minutes after the restart, Sangare missed a great chance by sending the ball over the bar from close range, leaving only Owono to beat at the back post.
The home team’s forward Christian Kouame also missed a chance to tie the game when he faced Owono; he shot straight at the custodian.
In the 67th minute, Ivory Coast had a chance to tie the game, but VAR called them offside after Jean-Philippe Krasso scored with his left foot.
After six minutes, Pablo Ganet curled a beautiful free kick into the top corner, making the Ivorians pay for their waste.
A lot of fans in the Alassane Ouattara Stadium left the stands after that goal. Those who stayed were shocked when Nsue scored his fifth goal of the tournament after a quick counterattack.
Ivory Coast’s goal difference, which could be very important in the race to qualify, got worse when Jannick Buyla messed up a shot that went into the corner with two minutes left in normal time.
They should have made things worse for their opponents in extra time, but Luis Asue’s miss-hit shot with the goal open couldn’t take away from the glory of a famous win.
Photo by Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
