AFCON Host Ivory Coast Thrashed Out Of Tournament

When Nigeria could only share the spoil in their first game with Equitorial Guinea, many said it was a poor outing. Now, this same Guinea team has sent the host, Ivory Coast, to the spectators stand.  

Indeed, it is a sad time to see the AFCON hosts exit the tournament, after two humiliating defeats. 

Worse of these defeats is the 4-0 trashing that Equatorial Guinea handed the host on Monday to progress to the AFCON knockouts as Group A winners. 

Ivory Coast looked the more dominant side at the beginning of the match and had a few chances to open the scoring, but former Arsenal star Nicolas Pepe was wasteful in front of the goal.

However, Equatorial Guinea finally broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute through their captain Emilio Nsue’s strike.

Carlos Akapo entered the penalty area with a brilliant solo run and found his skipper with a square pass inside the six-yard box and Nsue made no mistake in slotting the ball home.

The hosts were unlucky to see two goals disallowed either side of half time after VAR checks on both occasions, as scorers Ibrahim Sangare and Jean-Philippe Krasso were both found to be in an offside position.

A Great Beginning

As Ivory Coast pushed for an equaliser, the National Thunder then scored two goals in quick succession to seal the fate of the game.

In the 73rd minute, Pablo Ganet found the back of the net with a stunning curling free-kick nearly 20 yards from goal.

Two minutes later, Nsue completed his brace.

Read more: Vinicius Brutally Trolls Almeria Over Controversial ‘Handball’ Goal

Afterwards, second-half substitute Jannick Buyla scored a fourth and final goal in the 88th minute to complete the rout against the Elephants, in what will surely go down as one of the biggest shocks in the tournament history.

Ivory Coast had a great beginning as AFCON 2024 opened. They had quickly secured a win over the whipping boy of the tournament, Guinea-Bissau, which lost all three games of the group stage.

That victory gave the nation hope of advancing in the group, but the table turned.

Again, the game of football proves that surprises could spring up any time.

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