Congo beats Equatorial Guinea in penalty shootout to clinch 3rd place at African Cup

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea _ Congo beat host Equatorial Guinea 4-2 in a penalty shootout on Saturday after the third place game at the African Cup of Nations ended 0-0 after 90 minutes.

Javier Balboa and Raul Fabiani missed Equatorial Guinea’s first two spot-kicks. Cedric Mongongu sealed victory for the Congolese, sending his penalty into the top right corner.

The teams were goalless after a lacklustre contest at a half-empty Malabo Stadium. The third place game at the African Cup skips extra time and goes straight to penalties.

It capped a miserable week for Equatorial Guinea, which lost 3-0 to Ghana in the semifinals and was then fined $100,000 for fan violence at that game.

The shootout was the first so far at the African Cup. Ivory Coast plays Ghana in the final on Sunday.

The Associated Press