Equatorial Guinea (Group A)
Expelled from the preliminaries having finally been tripped up after years of shipping in mercenaries to play for their national team, they are back in the field as the new hosts. And CAF conveniently overlooked the fact they had to forfeit their win over Mauritania in the first round of the preliminaries for fielding Thierry Fidjeu, who was capped by Cameroon at junior level. The team still has Colombians and Brazilians who they duplicitously claim have some blood link with the island but in fact are paid handsomely to travel to Africa for international duty in brazen cases of cheating that FIFA turns a blind eye to.
COACH
Former Spanish international defender Andoni Goikoetxea was appointed national team coach in March 2013. Dubbed the “Butcher of Bilbao” after infamous tackles on Diego Armando Maradona and Bernd Schuster in his playing days, the 58-year-old took over from Gilson Paulo of Brazil, who was in charge for Equatorial Guinea’s only previous Nations Cup appearance, in 2012.
[This WAS his first job outside Spain. Yes, because he's fired even before first CAN2015 kickoff. He was replaced with former women's national team manager, the Argentinian Esteban Becker].
KEY PLAYERS
Equatorial Guinea continue to find players in Spain, with Carlos Akapo and Ruben Belima among the latest. Emilio Nsue is their skipper and their best-known player along with Javier Balboa. It will be interesting to see if they are brazen enough to field their two naturalised Colombians – Jimmy Bermudez and Carlos Bejarano.
LIKELY STARTING XI (4-4-2):
Felipe Ovono - Carlos Akapo, Daniel Vazquez, Diosdado Mbele, Sipo - Emilio Nsue, Ben Konate, Juvenal Edjogo - Ruben Belima, Randy.
COACH
Former Spanish international defender Andoni Goikoetxea was appointed national team coach in March 2013. Dubbed the “Butcher of Bilbao” after infamous tackles on Diego Armando Maradona and Bernd Schuster in his playing days, the 58-year-old took over from Gilson Paulo of Brazil, who was in charge for Equatorial Guinea’s only previous Nations Cup appearance, in 2012.
[This WAS his first job outside Spain. Yes, because he's fired even before first CAN2015 kickoff. He was replaced with former women's national team manager, the Argentinian Esteban Becker].
KEY PLAYERS
Equatorial Guinea continue to find players in Spain, with Carlos Akapo and Ruben Belima among the latest. Emilio Nsue is their skipper and their best-known player along with Javier Balboa. It will be interesting to see if they are brazen enough to field their two naturalised Colombians – Jimmy Bermudez and Carlos Bejarano.
LIKELY STARTING XI (4-4-2):
Felipe Ovono - Carlos Akapo, Daniel Vazquez, Diosdado Mbele, Sipo - Emilio Nsue, Ben Konate, Juvenal Edjogo - Ruben Belima, Randy.
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