Guinea sent wild as Bayo scores dramatic late winner
Mohamed Bayo scored a clutch header to put Guinea into the last eight at the Africa Cup of Nations, scoring with the last touch of the match to beat a heartbroken 10-man Equatorial Guinea 1-0 after it had missed a penalty earlier in this Round of 16 clash.
It marked the end of an extraordinary giant-killing run for Equatorial Guinea, which beat host Cote d'Ivoire 4-0 and drew with Nigeria in a stunning first phase that saw it top the standings in Group A.
Bayo’s superb near-post header was scored in the eighth minute of stoppage-time and prompted wild celebrations in Abidjan, after which the referee blew the final whistle.
After seeing Federico Bikoro sent off for a kung-fu style challenge in the 55th minute, Equatorial Guinea found itself with a golden opportunity to go ahead after it was awarded a penalty kick on 69 minutes for a foul by Sekou Sylla on Iban Salvador.
Equatorial Guinea captain Emilion Nsue, a scorer of five goals at the tournament so far, stepped forward to take it, but fired his effort into the post and the chance was gone.
Guinea, which ended a long sequence of losing in the knockout stage of the Cup of Nations with this result, remained patient and created several chances without really threatening, but eventually buried the best of them when Bayo nodded home to claim a famous win with just seconds remaining of normal time.
An early shot narrowly wide from Bayo was the only attempt on goal worthy of mention in an otherwise disappointing first half, but the game sprang to life in the second period.
Nsue failed to make the most of a fortunate ricochet just two minutes after the interval as he volleyed wastefully over the bar from 10 yards, while Guinea briefly thought it had broken the deadlock when Mory Konate headed home from a free-kick in the 53rd minute.
The flag was instantly, and correctly, raised for offside, however, but Guinea were handed a man advantage just two minutes later when Federico Bikoro was shown a red card for a high-footed challenge which delivered a painful blow to Bayo’s ribs.
Equatorial Guinea could have been forgiven for playing for extra-time but should instead have taken the lead from the penalty spot after Sylla’s foul on Salvador was eventually confirmed after a VAR check.
That gave Nsue the chance to net his sixth goal of the tournament but, after sending goalkeeper Ibrahim Kone the wrong way, the veteran forward could only look on in despair as his shot hit the base of a post and rebounded out of danger.
Despite its numerical advantage, Guinea rarely looked like scoring and Jesus Owono comfortably tipped over substitute Serhou Guirassy’s 82nd-minute header, but the deadlock was finally broken in dramatic fashion with Bayo in the perfect place to head a deserved winner.
