AFCON: E’Guinea eliminate hosts Ivory Coast after 4-0 thrashing

AFCON: E’Guinea eliminate hosts Ivory Coast after 4-0 thrashing

Host nation Ivory Coast were on Monday night bundled out of the ongoing African Cup of Nations tournament.
The Elephants were beaten 4-0 by Equatorial Guinea in huge tournament upset which saw the knockout dreams of the latter shattered.

The Equitorial Guinea team progressed to the AFCON knockout stage as Group A winners – at the expense of the hosts.
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, according to goals.com.
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.
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 from goal. Two minutes later, Nsue completed his brace.
Second-half substitute Jannick Buyla then 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 tournament history.
Equatorial Guinea skipper Nsue was undoubtedly the star of the game with his memorable brace in the historic win. The striker led from the front quite literally and was constantly active in the opposition’s box until he was hooked on the 78th minute.
Nottingham Forest defender Willy Boly had a night to forget in the Ivory Coast defence as his team leaked four goals.
The experienced defender was caught off guard constantly during the match, affording the opponent’s attackers too much space in their box. He was often shaky clearing his lines and epitomised the nerves that seemed to eat up the hosts as they completely imploded, leaving their hopes of qualification to the next round shattered.