Equatorial Guinea must accept defeat

Since this AFCON 2015 football competition started, I resolved not to watch any of the Ghanaian matches due to the shock I experienced in the recent World cup in Brazil. Today was my first time of watching Ghana play against Equatorial Guinea (Host Nation). I was shocked at what happened on the pitch. Certainly not a bad attitude from the Black stars. When i heard on TV that Equatorial Guinea had made it through to the semi-finals for the first time in their history, I was equally excited for them but later learned that the game which qualified them to the semi-finals ended in carnage in Bata on that Saturday night.

In other words, they were able to beat Tunisia as a result of a controversial stoppage-time penalty, which took the game to extra-time when they were trailing 1-0. In their game against Tunisia, when Ivan Bolado went down under a seemingly innocuous challenge in the box and inexplicably, a penalty was awarded to them, they were excited. Were they not?

What happened today was terrible and shameful. The supporters were throwing missiles at the Ghanaian players and supporters just because Ghana had scored them 3-0. It was an ugly scene. To the extent that helicopters had to be dispatched to patrol the stadium. It was like a Hollywood movie. There was complete pandemonium. Africa deserves BETTER than this ugly scene. This is unacceptable in confederation football.

The game had to be stopped for over 30 minutes for the players to calm down the supporters. The Ghanaian supporters in the stands were the most affected. They were chased out of their stands with bottles and other missiles.

Finally, the referee from Gabon had to allow play to continue for the next 3 minutes after which he brought the game to an end. The bigger shock was that the President of Equatorial Guinea, H.E. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was present, but he was impuissant. My question is, so was Equatorial Guinea expecting to score Ghana? Tweaaa!!! When the thievery was on their side in their game against Tunisia, they were excited and said the referee was good.

When they experienced good refereeing today, they cursed everybody including their own PRESIDENT. Equatorial Guinea must learn to be good sportsmen because in every competitive football, there can only be one winner and Ghana was the winner for today’s match. Such is life! May God have mercy on AFRICA!

Paa Kow Ackon

Ackon.pk@gmail.com