Victor Osimhen, Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane had been maybe the probably bets to be prime marksman at this 12 months’s Africa Cup of Nations, however the solely sudden title main the scorers’ charts in Ivory Coast has extra objectives than all of them mixed. Emilio Nsue, the captain of unfancied Equatorial Guinea, goes right into a last-16 tie with Guinea on Sunday after netting 5 instances within the group stage. If he retains this up, he may break Ndaye Mulamba’s document of 9 in a single AFCON for Zaire in 1974.
“I am ambitious, but to be honest I would sign a contract right now if it said I would be the top scorer,” he smiled when that document was talked about to him in an interview with AFP in Abidjan.
Nsue scored twice in a 4-0 win over the hosts of their remaining group recreation, having netted three in a 4-2 win over Guinea-Bissau, the primary Cup of Nations hat-trick since 2008.
Ranked 18th in Africa, Equatorial Guinea — inhabitants 1.7 million — is not any footballing hotbed.
However the Central African nation has made exceptional progress during the last decade, spurred on by internet hosting the AFCON in 2012 and once more in 2015, after they reached the semi-finals.
‘Strongest in all Africa’
The present facet, beneath softly-spoken coach Juan Micha, is undefeated since June 2022.
“The most important thing, our strong point, is the group, because we are playing almost eight or nine years together, so we are brothers,” Nsue mentioned.
“We don’t have any superstar, but as a group I think we are the strongest in all Africa.”
Nsue is actually the closest factor they must a celebrity.
Born in Mallorca, he was in a Spain squad that gained the Below-21 Euro in 2011 alongside David de Gea, Juan Mata and Thiago Alcantara.
However he opted to symbolize the nation of his father’s start at senior degree, at a time when he was enjoying recurrently in La Liga for Mallorca.
“Equatorial Guinea came to me and said: ‘Please, you have to come. You are going to be the captain. You are young but we think you are the future’,” mentioned Nsue.
“So I thought about that and about everything my father explained to me.”
He did not get pleasure from the perfect begin, scoring a hat-trick in a 4-3 win over Cape Verde in 2013, just for Equatorial Guinea to be handed a 3-0 defeat as a result of Nsue was, the truth is, ineligible.
But Nsue, who idolised Samuel Eto’o rising up when the Cameroon legend performed for Mallorca, is now a hero within the nation.
“The people of Equatorial Guinea are really grateful towards him because you can see how much he loves his country,” Micha informed AFP.
“It is incredible to have a person like him and I hope he stays with us for a long time.
Getting better with age
However, he will turn 35 this year, so could this be his last AFCON?
“My hero is Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s older than me. I care rather a lot about my physique. I wish to eat healthily. So for me I do not assume it may be my final one as a result of I really feel higher than after I was 20,” Nsue said.
Much has been made of his versatility, as a player who was turned into a wing-back by Aitor Karanka at Middlesbrough, where he won promotion to the Premier League in 2016.
“After that, all of the coaches mentioned to me I may play all over the place. So final 12 months I performed as a central defender, a right-back, striker, midfielder,” he said.
“However with my nationwide crew, these 12 years, I’ve performed as a striker. Nearly all my life I’ve performed as a striker.”
Nsue was one of seven members of Equatorial Guinea’s line-up against Ivory Coast who were born in Spain, the former colonial power.
He is now playing club football in Spain for third-tier Intercity of Alicante, who took Barcelona to extra time in the Copa del Rey last season.
Nsue is in no hurry to leave his current surroundings, even if his profile has been boosted at the AFCON.
“I am very comfortable. I am scoring objectives. For me it isn’t all about soccer,” he said.
“The life in Alicante could be very good, the climate, for me at 34 years previous that’s vital.
“You never know, maybe tomorrow somebody comes with an offer you can’t refuse, but I don’t really think about that.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Matters talked about on this article