The State of Play
Equatorial Guinea have only competed at three AFCON tournaments but have reached the quarter-finals on two occasions and the semi-finals once. Now they have already got a good chance of easing themselves into the knockout stages of this competition after an impressive 1-1 draw against Nigeria in their opening clash.
That impressive 1-1 draw is now being followed up by facing a Guinea-Bissau side that will be widely viewed as one of the weakest teams in the competition. They began the group stages with a 2-0 defeat to host nation Ivory Coast on Saturday afternoon with goals coming from Jean-Philippe Krasso and Seko Fofana.
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Team News
Equatorial Guinea earned a creditable draw against Nigeria so will be keen on maintaining the same starting eleven for this weekend as they seek progress into the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations for a fourth time in their history.
Guinea-Bissau introduced Bolton Wanderers midfielder Carlos Mendes Gomes mid-way through the second-half of their opening defeat to Ivory Coast and he could play from the start this time in place of Moreto Cassama but there are no injury concerns Baciro Cande’s side.
Expected Line-ups
Equatorial Guinea: Owono; Akapo, Orozco, Coco, Ndong; Bikoro, Ganet; Salvador, Machin, Buyla; Nsue
Guinea-Bissau: Djoco; Encada, Sangante, Djalo, Cande; Mendes Gomes, Semedo, Bikel; Rodrigues, Balde, Mane
What they Said
In the aftermath of their 1-1 draw with Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea boss Juan Micha insisted their focus will not shift from their target: “Our mission is not complete, we still have a lot to do. We are in a group stage, this is the first match. We will try to reach the next stage before seeing what happens next.”
Prior to the opening game of the tournament, Baciro Cande had said ‘our goal is to finally get past the first round’ and that makes this game absolutely pivotal with Nigeria awaiting Guinea-Bissau in their final game of the groups.
When and How to Watch
The game at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium will kick off at 14:00 on Thursday 18th January and will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK. Subscribers to Sky Sports can alternately stream the game online via the ‘Sky Go’ app.
Prediction
Equatorial Guinea are the overwhelming favourites for this one against fairly poor opposition. Africa Cup of Nations football tends to be low-scoring, particularly in the group stages, but it has been a little more open at the back all round so far in the tournament. Even if this is not a high-scoring thriller, though, it is still expected to be a relatively comfortable victory for ‘Los Elefantes’ at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan.
