AFCON 2015: Equatorial Guinea foresees tough quarter-finals

Equatorial Guinea veteran Juvenal Edjogo-Owono has said he
expects the AFCON hosts to come up with a difficult
quarterfinal after his team finished second in Group A.
On Saturday, Nzalang Nacional will battle the winners of
Group B, who are likely to be Tunisia or Cape Verde, in
Ebebiyin for a place in the last-four.
“We are going to enjoy this qualification with our fans and our
people and start to prepare for the quarter-finals. We don’t
know our opponents yet, but it will be very tough,” said
Juvenal, who also featured when Equatorial Guinea reached
the knockout stage in 2012, when they co-hosted the
competition with neighbours Gabon.
The Andorra-based midfielder said his team deserved 2-0 win
over Gabon.
“The Gabon players are well known and play for great
European teams. It was important for us to reach half-time on
a tie, to keep our chances until the end,” he said.
“Gabon has a lot of qualities, but so do Equatorial Guinea. We
played our match and deserved the victory.”
“We approached all three games in the same way, against
more fancied opponents, with conviction and humility.”
Gabon’s coach slams penalty decision
Head coach of Gabon, Jorge Costa has blamed their exit in the
on-going 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) to a poor
decision by the centre referee.
The hosts Equatorial Guinea bundled out Costa’s team 2-0 in
a Group A match played at the Bata Stadium on Sunday. “As
hosts they only needed a soft penalty to be able to win. That
penalty was the turn of the game,” a bitter Costa told
AfricanFootball.com after the game.
Costa said the referee from Cote d’Ivoire Doue Noumandiez
Desire made a wrong call to award the penalty. “Even after
watching replays on TV you can tell that there was no
penalty,” reasoned the coach.
The hosts scored through Javier Angel Balboa’s second half
penalty and another goal by substitute Ivan Edu Salvador.
Coach Claude Le Roy’s Congo Brazzaville’s team qualified as
Group A table leaders after their 2-1 win over Burkina Faso
2-1.
Balboa made a driving run before surging into the Gabon
penalty area. Gabon defender Lloyd Palun seemed to clip him
in the box and the referee awarded a penalty that he
confidently converted. But Costa said he will maintain that the
referee was wrong.
He called upon match officials to handle matches well if the
tournament is to move on smoothly for teams to express
themselves and better teams to win. “Although we are out, I
pray that the best teams win,” he added.