Ivory Coast humiliated at home as Equatorial Guinea run riot

The Ivory Coast national football team face an anxious wait to see if they will progress from the group stages of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) after suffering a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea on Monday. The heavy loss in Abidjan leaves the host nation with the difficult task of advancing as one of the best third-placed teams.

After losing their previous match to Nigeria, Ivory Coast dominated the early proceedings but were unable to capitalise on their possession. Equatorial Guinea took the lead just before half-time through Emilio Nsue, who added to his earlier hat-trick in the tournament. The Ivorians had two goals correctly disallowed for offside either side of half-time and were made to pay as the match wore on.

Equatorial Guinea doubled their advantage from a free-kick before Nsue grabbed his fifth of AFCON 2023 on the counter-attack. The scoring was rounded off when Jannick Buyla turned home from close range. The result secured the top spot in Group A for Equatorial Guinea, while Nigeria’s win over Guinea-Bissau confirmed Ivory Coast would finish third.

With three points and a negative three-goal difference after their opening two games, Ivory Coast face a nervous wait to find out if they have done enough to secure qualification as one of the four best third-place teams. Their heavy defeat means they may require help from other results to keep their tournament hopes alive.

The loss was another setback for Ivory Coast head coach, Jean-Louis Gasset. His side struggled to capitalise on promising attacking situations and were ruthlessly exposed by Equatorial Guinea on the counter-attack.