Ivory Coast slid to the brink of a humiliating exit from the Africa Cup of Nations as the house facet suffered a 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea of their remaining Group A match in Abidjan on Monday.
Emilio Nsue scored a double to comply with up his hat-trick in opposition to Guinea-Bissau as Equatorial Guinea completed prime of the group, forward of Nigeria on objective distinction.
Nigeria defeated Guinea-Bissau 1-0 within the different match of the group.
Ivory Coast had solely managed to get out of the group stage as soon as within the earlier 9 editions of the event, in 2017.
The 2-time champions should wait nervously to search out out whether or not they are going to progress to the final 16 as one of many 4 finest third-placed sides.
Jean-Louis Gasset's males want a run of outcomes to swing into their favor and keep away from crashing out of the competitors after their heaviest ever residence defeat.
Hundreds of Ivory Coast supporters left the stadium late as Equatorial Guinea scored three objectives in fifteen minutes to embarrass their opponents.
The Ivorians began brightly however struggled to create clear probabilities, with Oumar Diakite's wild effort going broad after a poor strike from Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Jesus Owono, their finest probability within the opening 25 minutes.
It regarded like Nicolas Pepe was fouled within the penalty space after simply half an hour, however the winger determined to remain on his ft and no penalty was awarded, regardless of Owono popping out to get the ball.
Equatorial Guinea took a stunning lead shortly earlier than halftime with their first actual assault.
Proper-back Carlos Akapo weaved his well beyond some weak challenges into the realm earlier than crossing in the direction of Nsue to information the ball into the underside nook.
Ibrahim Sangare thought for a second that he had equalized in stoppage time of the primary half, however the VAR shortly disallowed the objective as a result of clear offside in opposition to the Ivory Coast midfielder.
Sangare squandered a wonderful alternative lower than two minutes after the restart, firing the ball excessive over the crossbar from shut vary, with solely Owono to beat on the again put up.
Fiorentina striker Christian Kouame additionally didn’t degree the rating for the house facet when he got here nose to nose with Owono, firing his shot straight on the keeper.
Ivory Coast was once more denied an equalizer within the 67th minute by VAR for offside after Jean-Philippe Krasso shot in the direction of the objective from the left.
The underdogs made the Ivorians pay for his or her indiscretion six minutes later when Pablo Ganet curled a shocking free-kick into the highest nook.
That objective prompted many followers at Alassane Ouattara Stadium to depart the stands, and those that remained have been shocked when Nsue tucked away his fifth objective of the event after a fast counter-attack.
Ivory Coast's objective distinction, which may show essential within the battle for qualification, suffered one other dent with two minutes of regular enjoying time when Jannick Buyla blasted a shot into the nook from a rebound.
Equatorial Guinea ought to have rubbed extra salt of their opponent's wounds in further time, however Luis Asue's failed strike with the objective open couldn’t take the shine off a well-known victory.
AFP
