Category: Africa Cup of Nations 2015

DR Congo spot-on to deny Equatorial Guinea third place in low-key affair

• DR Congo 0-0 Equatorial Guinea
• DR Congo win 4-2 on penalties

Equatorial Guinea’s Africa Cup of Nations swung from fairytale to farce in a matter of hours this week and it seemed sadly apposite that one of their heroes from this tournament, Javier Balboa, was complicit in this third place play-off defeat. Balboa’s penalty, the first to be taken in the shootout, was skied high and wide of the target, Raúl Fabiani’s subsequent miss effectively confirming that DR Congo – who have impressed with their counterattacking football for most of this tournament – leave for Kinshasa with their best finish since 1998.

Among the hosts’ punishments for the violence that marred Thursday night’s semi-final defeat to Ghana was the suspended prospect of playing a home game behind closed doors. When this match kicked off in front of barely 300 supporters, the total eventually struggling into four figures, it was tempting to consider that they have already served their time on this front. A police helicopter, used to such brutal effect during those disturbances, hovered overhead and a security operation that promised “stricter measures” had been notably ramped up. These had clearly been deterrent enough: this crowd was never going to threaten a repeat offence and the heavily-armed officers were able to spend most of a humid early evening watching from the stands.

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