At 00:00 Beijing time on January 21, the 3rd round of the 2021 Africa Cup Group E, Sierra Leone played against Equatorial Guinea. In the first half, Pablo Garnett scored; in the second half, Caiansu Camara missed the spot and Quiy left the field in red. In the end, Equatorial Guinea beat Sierra Leone 1-0 and advanced to the round of 16.
In the 37th minute, Salvador assisted and Pablo Garnett scored his first career Africa Cup of Nations regular goal! Equatorial Guinea leads 1-0!
In the 85th minute, Sierra Leone won a penalty, 37-year-old striker Kaiansu Kamara took the penalty to the right, and goalkeeper Ovono, born in 2001, flew to lift the ball out of the bottom line!
In the end, FiFA ranked 114th Equatorial Guinea 1-0 Sierra Leone, with a record of 2 wins and 1 loss and 6, finished second in the group, and once again advanced to the elimination stage of the African Cup of Nations after 7 years, and it was also the first time in the team's history that the team had qualified for the African Cup of Nations held outside its home country.
It can be said that the absolute penalty saved by Ovono determined the fate of the three teams. The first is to ensure that their own teams win the game and qualify smoothly; second, to change the rankings of Sierra Leone and the Comoros. According to the rules, in addition to the top two in each group, the third place in the four best-performing groups can also qualify for the promotion. If this penalty is scored, Sierra Leone and comoros will score three points together. Sierra Leone were able to finish third in all groups in fourth place with goal difference, but a penalty save also meant a major reversal of the fate of the two teams, sierra Leone only had 2 points and could only watch the Comoros advance to the knockout rounds.
Like Equatorial Guinea, the Comoros is a dark horse in this tournament. It was the first time in their history that they had participated in the Africa Cup of Nations finals, with the 132nd world ranking ranking being second to last of all teams. In the final round of the group stage, they defeated the championship favourite Ghana 3-2, and while winning the first victory in the history of the team, they directly sent their opponents out of the bottom.
Two days later, on the closing day of the African Cup of Nations group stage, Lady Luck once again sided with the Comoros. This small African island with a total population of only 850,000 has done wonders. At the end of the match between Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea, the Comoros players gathered in front of the TV set celebrated like they had won the championship. One goal, one win, one group qualifier, they're constantly writing history for their country.