Official: Equatorial Guinea sacks coach and expels players on strike, will be led by interim coach for World Cup qualifying

On October 13, the Equatorial Guinea Football Association officially announced that head coach Juan Micha was fired and many key players were fired due to his failure to attend the away game against Malawi in the World Cup preliminaries as scheduled, including the meritorious captain Emilio Nsue. Equatorial Guinea may be sanctioned by FIFA following this incident.

Before the game against Malawi, Equatorial Guinea’s key players refused to travel due to continued dissatisfaction with team conditions and salary issues. In an official statement, the Equatorial Guinea Football Federation wrote: The Ministry of Sports has given players who have been called up to participate in these FIFA matches and are willing to continue playing for their country the opportunity to have their names included in the list. Otherwise, those who do not submit a list will be deemed to have automatically withdrawn from the national team. At present, the new national team roster has been announced, and Casto Nopo has been appointed as the interim head coach.

In the last African Cup, Equatorial Guinea became the biggest dark horse. They defeated the host Ivory Coast 4-0 in the group stage, creating one of the biggest upsets in the history of the African Cup. Before that, they also drew 1-1 with Nigeria, and finally defeated two strong teams in the group stage to advance, but they were eliminated by Guinea in the round of 16.

Equatorial Guinea has qualified for the African Cup of Nations finals to be held in Morocco on December 21, but they will miss the World Cup next summer.