
Thunders of Equatorial Guinea Strike African Wild Dog of Guinea Bissau 4-2 producing First Hat Trick
By Eniola Olatunji
The National Thunder of Equatorial Guinea on Thursday at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan struck down The African Wild Dogs of Guinea Bissau 4-2 in a Group A match that produced the first hat trick of the African Cup of Nations tournament and first ever hat trick for Equatorial Guinea in the history of the games.
Emilio Nsue from a not so popular club scored the first hat trick in Ivory Coast shoving in goals in the 21st minute; scored the 3rd goal of the match for the Thunder invoking boys in the 51st minute and put icing on their victory cake in the 61st minute which the Linesman initially flagged offside but VAR upturned for a goal. It made double history as the first hat trick in the tournament and to Equatorial Guinea.
The memories of Escobar a famous defender who scored an own goal in the world cup came flashing when FC Arges Pitesti of Rome, Esteban Orozco Fernandez mistakenly pushed the ball into his own net in the 37th minute.
Guinea Bissau got a consolation goal 90+3 minute when Jose Correia known as Ze Turbo which again the Linesman said was offside but the VAR again ruled as a good goal.
The result puts pressure on Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Equatorial Guinea awaits the result of Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Elephants of Ivory Coast to determine who leads the group at the end of the group A second round. Nigeria plays Ivory Coast at 6pm today. Right now Equatorial Guinea leads with 4 points from two matches scoring 5 goals and conceding 2; Ivory Coast has 3 points with 2 goals to place second; Nigeria is 3rd with a point and a goal while Guinea Bissau stands at the exit door with no point and one goal.
Equatorial Guinea awaits the result of Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Elephants of Ivory Coast to determine who leads the group at the end of the group A second round. Nigeria played Ivory Coast at 6pm today. Right now Equatorial Guinea leads with 4 points from two matches scoring 5 goals and conceding 2; Ivory Coast has 3 points with 2 goals to place second; Nigeria is 3rd with a point and a goal while Guinea Bissau stands at the exit door with no point and one goal.
The last group A matches is on Monday 21st January at 6pm when the two matches will be played simultaneously Guinea Bissau playing a survival game with Nigeria and Ivory Coast facing Equatorial Guinea challenge.
Guinea Bissau is making her 4th appearance at the AFCON finals and has never gone beyond the Group stages in 2017, 2019 and 2021. Her highest win ever was a 7-2 banging of the Squirrels of Benin Republic at Bamako on 3rd November 2001 and her highest defeat was at Banjul in Gambia where the Scorpions of Gambia stung them on 1st December 1997.
Guinea Bissau last five matches was a loss to Nigeria on 19th January 2022 on home soil 0-2 in an AFCON duel; lost to lowly rated Djibouti by a lone goal on 20th November 2023 in a world cup match; played 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso in another world cup match on 17th November 2023; lost to Guinea by a lone goal in a friendly on 13th October 2023; defeated Sierra Leone 2-1 in an ACN match but lost to Mali 2-6 on 6th January 2024 in a Friendly. Guinea Bissau had beaten Nigeria’s Super Eagles 1-0 on 24th March 2023 in Nigeria with the goal scored by Balde in the 29th minute.
Equatorial Guinea is ranked 88 and appearing for the 4th time as she co-hosted with Gabon in 2015 with a no show performance but hosted in 2015 and ended up with the 4th place in Malabo after losing via penalty kicks 2-4 and the real match goalless to Democratic Republic of Congo.
The last five matches of Equatorial Guinea were not Uhuru. On 7th October 2023 she played 1-1with Liberia in Monrovia in AFCON match; played goalless with Burkina Faso in a Friendly on 13th October 2023; defeated Namibia by a lone goal in a world cup match on 15th November 2023; on 21st November 2023 she got an encore victory on Liberia in a world cup match again with Liberia playing home; on 9th January 2024 she played 1-1 with Djibouti in a friendly.
Egypt plays Ghana at 9pm tonight in Group B.
Cape Verde will step up to meet Mozambique in an outstanding Group B match at 3pm tomorrow Friday; Defending Champions Senegal will be in a Lion versus Lions match facing Cameroon at 6pm and Guinea will face Scorpions of Gambia at 9pm.