History
Equatorial Guinea played its first match on 23 May 1975 against China in a friendly and lost 6−2. They did not play another game until entering the 1985 UDEAC Cup in December 1985. They were drawn in a group against the hosts Congo and Central African Republic. They lost 5−0 to the Congo on 9 December and then earnt their first draw by drawing 1−1 against the Central African Republic on 14 December. On 16 December they played a play-off for fifth place against Chad, and lost 3−2 on penalties after a 1−1 draw.
Equatorial Guinea would come in fourth in in the 1987 UDEAC Cup, losing on penalties in the third place match to Gabon, even though they only scored one goal throughout the tournament in a 1−1 tie against Chad. They also tied 0−0 against Cameroon. On their next try, they got sixth place after losing on penalties against Central African Replublic. The next time Equatorial Guinea played Central African Republic, in 1999, they won, 4–2. It was Equatorial Guinea's first win.
In the late 2000s, their football federation along with the Fédération Gabonaise de Football announced a bid to host the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, against bids from other African nations including Angola, Libya and Nigeria. Equatorial Guinea and Gabon won the right to host the games, and two new stadiums were built in Equatorial Guinea: Estadio de Bata in Bata and Nuevo Estadio de Malabo in Malabo.
The first game in the 2012 African Cup of Nations was Equatorial Guinea's first in a major international tournament, and resulted in a historic 1–0 win over Libya 21 January 2012 in the opening game of the tournament. An 87th minute strike from former Real Madrid winger Javier Balboa earned the victory. In the next game they secured qualification to the quarter-finals by beating Senegal 2–1, and finished second in their group after losing 0–1 to Zambia. They progressed to the quarter finals were they were eliminated by the tournament's runners-up Ivory Coast after losing to The Elephants 3-0 thanks to goals from Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré. Various national side players were praised due to there performances in the tournament among these players were Javier Balboa, Iban Iyanga, Ben Konaté and Rui, the latter was part of the Team of the tournament.
Read more about this topic: Equatorial Guinea National Football Team
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