2023 Africa Cup of Nations Group A

Group A of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations took place from 13 to 22 January 2024.^[1] The group consisted of hosts Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, and Equatorial Guinea.^[2]

Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria as the top two teams, along with Ivory Coast as one of the four best third-placed teams, advanced to the round of 16.

Notes

All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).

The two teams had met once before, a 4–1 victory for Ivory Coast in the 2001 WAFU Nations Cup qualifying round.^[3] However, this match is not considered an “A” match by FIFA as the WAFU Nations Cup was a tournament in which national teams participated only with players from their local league. Therefore, this was the first international “A” match between the two teams.^[4] Ivorian forwards Sébastien Haller and Simon Adingra were unavailable for this match due to injuries.^[5][6]

Ivory Coast got off to a dream start with a Seko Fofana goal from outside the box in the 4th minute after Bissau-Guinean defenders failed to clear it out. The Ivorians increasingly asserted domination and added their second in the 58th minute, when a deflected cross by Franck Kessié was intercepted by Jean-Philippe Krasso, who skilfully controlled and struck home a volley to seal the three points.

Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea met for the fourth time, with the first two meetings coming in six days in June 2008 during the second round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification phase, with Nigeria winning 1-0 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on June 15, 2008, and 2-0 in Abuja, Nigeria, on June 21, 2008. In addition, Nigeria defeated Equatorial Guinea 3-1 in a group stage finale at the 2018 African Nations Championship in Agadir, Morocco.

Equatorial Guinea proved more energetic over the early stages. It paid off in the 36th minute when Iban Salvador exquisitely guided the ball into the bottom corner from his position on the penalty spot. However, the lead was canceled out just two minutes later with a bullet header by Victor Osimhen from Ademola Lookman's floated delivery. Despite ramping up pressure later on, Nigeria failed to score and was forced to settle for a draw.

The teams had only met each other once, a 3–0 win for Equatorial Guinea in a friendly in Portugal in 2022.

It was Equatorial Guinea who struck first in the 21st minute due to poor concentration by Janio Bikel, who allowed Emilio Nsue through, and he converted with an expertly taken one-on-one finish. However, the Bissau-Guineans did not long to equalize as Esteban Obiang, in an attempt to clear a pass from Mauro Rodrigues, deflected it into his net instead. The second half, though, saw Equatorial Guinea seize the game when Josete Miranda sublimely volleyed his side back ahead right at the beginning of the second half, before Nsue completed his hat trick, first slotting home his second goal at the back post courtesy of Basilio Ndong’s delicious delivery into the danger zone, before he clinically struck again ten minutes later. Zé Turbo scored a skillful goal in the second minute of extra time, but it proved too late for Guinea-Bissau.

At 34 years and 110 days, Emilio Nsue became the oldest player to score a hat trick at the Africa Cup of Nations.^[10] Furthermore, the hat trick was also the first at an African Cup of Nations since Jan. 21, 2008, when Soufiane Alloudi recorded his hat trick in a 5-1 victory for Morocco against Namibia.

Combined with the later result between Ivory Coast and Nigeria, this result meant Guinea-Bissau had been eliminated from the group stages for the fourth consecutive Africa Cup of Nations without a win.

The two national teams met each other for the first time since 2015, while the last time they played competitively back in 2013 had seen Nigeria win 2–1.

After a goalless first half with full of drama and ferocity from the hosts and Nigerians, a foul by Ousmane Diomande on Victor Osimhen resulted in William Troost-Ekong converting a penalty in the 55th minute, which secured Nigeria's win.

This was their second meeting at the AFCON, after their previous encounter back in 2021 where Ivory Coast won 1–0.

The Ivorians made a bright start but could not capitalise, and they were made to pay in the 42nd minute when Carlos Akapo was allowed to drive into the area and play a low pass across to Emilio Nsue who rolled the ball into the net. Ivory Coast thought they had an equaliser on the stroke of half time, but Ibrahim Sangaré was flagged offside. In the second half, Jean-Philippe Krasso found the back of the net yet he too was flagged offside. Pablo Ganet then struck a free kick in the 73rd minute to give Equatorial Guinea their second, before a counter-attack two minutes later saw Nsue secure the game for the Equatoguineans with a clinical finish after receiving the ball from José Machín. The Ivorians’ misery was completed when Jannick Buyla finished from a rebound in the 88th minute.^[13]

This was Equatorial Guinea's biggest win in their AFCON history, while Ivory Coast had become the first host country to concede four goals at the group stages of an AFCON. Despite this humiliation, Ivory Coast still advanced past the group stages, thanked to Zambia losing 0–1 to Morocco in the Group F fixture.

Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria met for only the fourth time, and all have come within the past two years. The first meeting came in the group stage finale of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Garoua, Cameroon, where goals from Umar Sadiq and William Troost-Ekong gave Nigeria a 2-0 victory and eliminated Guinea-Bissau from the tournament. The nations also met in qualification for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, with Guinea-Bissau recording a 1-0 victory on Mar. 24, 2023, in Abuja, Nigeria, courtesy of a goal from Mama Balde. Nigeria won in Bissau three days later, with Moses Simon's penalty kick being the only score in that match.

Guinea-Bissau mounted fierce resistance against Nigeria, but in a clumsy attempt to clear out in the 36th minute, Opa Sanganté ended up scoring an own goal, which turned out to be the only goal of the match as Nigeria emerged victorious.

This loss meant Guinea-Bissau lost all three matches at the group stage for the first time and remained winless after participating in four tournaments.

Fair play points would have been used as tiebreakers if the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:

Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player in a single match.

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