Unsavoury evening leaves Equatorial Guinea terminally tarnished
February 7th, 2025by Matt Carter
Even before Thursday night's ugly scenes, Equatorial Guinea's compelling 2025 AFCON adventure had already cemented a place in lasting memory. Engaging, controversial and implausible – the National Thunder's journey to the last four was anything but the final chapter of that voyage would however take the drama to previously unscaled heights, in the form of one of the crassest nights witnessed in AFCON history.
The host's contentious quarter-final triumph over Tunisia had already seen disorder of what appeared unrivalled levels, yet the hideous occrances that infused in Malabo just four days later rendered those events almost nonsensical.
All this would have seemed beyond even the widest realms of possibility when Equatorial Guinea were supposedly disqualified from the qualification process at the first hurdle back in May – the fielding of an ineligible player against unheralded Mauritania resigning them to the apparent exit door.
A route back in was however engineered back in March, when Equatorial Guinea offered their services as an eleventh hour host following Morocco's Ebola associated withdrawal.
Ranked 113th in the world, with a squad seemingly cobbled together from all corners of the globe and a manager appointed just weeks before proceedings commenced, the National Thunder weren't given a prayer of being anything more than cannon fodder.
Those forecasts however couldn't have been wider of the mark, as the hosts – caught up in a wave of vociferous support and with the fortunes gods watching their backs – disparaged the odds to momentously march into an implausible quarter-final date.
It was undoubtedly the story of the group stages and the ecstasy created by that accomplishment would engulf the tournament.
Off the field Equatorial Guinea were collecting further plaudits, accounting that for a tournament organised off the back of minimal notice period things were being carried off remarkably well.
Yes there had been minor problems – primarily involving accommodation and crowd congestion – but considering the circumstances the hosts were rightly being revered for negotiating the seemingly unattainable timeframe to put on a respectable spectacle.
The seminal last eight victory over Tunisia should have generated a notion of yet further continental wide euphoria, yet it is here where the mood showed signs of turning sour.
An already ill-tempered fixture descended into complete chaos following the most dubious awarding of an Equatorial Guinea penalty in stoppage time, which allowed Javier Balboa to extend the disorder into extra-time.
The football almost became a mere subplot throughout that additional half hour, with a vulgar brawl amongst the most distasteful aspects of an uncomfortable extension to the game.
The visibly enraged North Africans hardly helped themselves with an unpleasant cynical display, whilst their reaction in the face of adversity was widely condemned as disgraceful – but for the assistance of riot
