Power outage hits parts of Côte d’Ivoire where the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament is being held after a 4-0 humiliation of the country’s national football team, The Elephants, by the Thunders of Equatorial Guinea on Monday night.
A Nigerian journalist, Suleiman Adebayo, disclosed this in an interview with Channels Television on Tuesday. He said the power outage may not be unconnected to vandalism by angry fan following the Ivorian team’s heavy 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea.
“There is a power outage here for about five hours, perhaps due to the 4-0 loss by the Ivorians to Equatorial Guinea,”Adebayo said.
Adebayo shared his insights after Nigeria secured a lone-goal victory against Guinea-Bissau on Monday. He mentioned that the power outage had been ongoing for more than five hours, affecting significant cities in Côte d’Ivoire.
Cote d’Ivoire slipped to the brink of a humiliating exit from the Africa Cup of Nations as the hosts suffered a 4-0 defeat against Equatorial Guinea in their final Group A game in Abidjan on Monday.
Emilio Nsue scored a double to follow up his hat-trick against Guinea-Bissau as Equatorial Guinea finished top of the group ahead of Nigeria on goal difference. Nigeria saw off Guinea-Bissau 1-0 in the group’s other game.
Following the agonising defeat, Ivorian fans went violent and destroyed buses outside the stadium.
The fans broke window glasses from the buses and the nearby buildings in a show of disappointment for the team’s poor results.
Having beaten Guinea-Bissau 2-0 in their opener, the Elephants have gone on to lose their next two, including a 1-0 defeat to Nigeria.
Ivory Coast have only failed to get out of the group phase once in the previous nine editions of the tournament, in 2017.
The two-time champions will have to endure a nervy wait to find out if they will go through to the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed sides.
Jean-Louis Gasset’s men need a series of results to go in their favour to avoid sliding out of the competition, after suffering their heaviest ever home defeat.
Thousands of Ivory Coast supporters filed out of the stadium late on as Equatorial Guinea scored three goals in 15 minutes to embarrass their opponents.
Ivory Coast’s goal difference, which could prove crucial in the fight for qualification, took another dent with two minutes of normal time remaining, as Jannick Buyla bobbled a shot into the corner from a rebound.
Equatorial Guinea should have rubbed further salt into their opponents’ wounds in added time, but Luis Asue’s mishit strike with the goal gaping could not take the gloss off a famous victory.
