Even though Birmingham City doesn’t have any players competing in AFCON, the man who has taken the competition by storm will nevertheless surprise supporters. Emilio Nsue tops the goalscoring rankings despite Equatorial Guinea’s elimination from the competition in the last-16 round following a 1-0 loss to Guinea.
The 34-year-old’s team defeated Guinea-Bisau 4-2, making him the first player since Soufiane Alloudi in 2008 to win a treble in the competition. He then scored two more goals as the Ivory Coast was destroyed 4-0.
He won’t have the chance to increase that total, and he should be cautious of Gelson Dala of Angola, who is second with four goals and may still have three games remaining in the campaign. Nevertheless, he finishes the competition having maintained his impressive scoring streak in 43 games for his country’s football team.
Both Middlesborough fans and the Bluenoses might be shocked by such statistics. After moving to Boro from Mallorca in 2014, Nsue was used as a right-back. He started the team’s first three Premier League games before losing favour with the fans, and he assisted the team in winning automatic promotion from the Championship in the 2015–16 campaign.
The following January, he duly went for Birmingham for a £1 million sum, despite making just three goals in his eighty appearances for the North-East club. He went for Apoel in Cyprus after spending two years with St Andrew’s, where he made just one goal in 38 games.
But once more, he played for the team as a defender. Nsue is now playing wide on the right during the AFCON and is utilized in a more advanced role by the club and country for the Spanish third-tier team Intercity.
On the other hand, at the international level, Equatorial Guinea was never his first choice. Nsue played for several age-group Spanish teams and was a member of the winning Under-21 team at the 2011 European Championships.
Indeed, in 2012, he declined an offer to play for his father’s home nation of Equatorial Guinea at the 2012 AFCON. He presented his decision as motivation for wanting to compete for Spain at the Olympics in London.
However, a year later, after he was not selected, he made a commitment to the African nation. Since then, Nsue has developed into a key member of the National Thunder, leading them to victory in the Ivory Coast last month.
