Africa Cup of Nations debutants Guinea Bissau held hosts Gabon to a one all draw in the tournament opener on Saturday evening at Stade le Amitie in Libreville Gabon.
The hosts scored through Pierre Aubameyang early in the second half with Guinea Bissau getting an equalizer through a diving header coming from Juary Suarez.
Guinea Bissau had the better of the early exchanges, maintaining possession and looking more cohesive against a host team that started the match relying on ineffective long balls.
The first chance fell to visitors fifteen minutes into the game when Zezinho cut in from the right and dribbled into the penalty but Johann Obiang was there to deny him with a last ditch tackle.
Guinea-Bissau domination didn’t last long though as the hosts shook off their nerves and began creating opportunities by playing off Evouna.
Johan Obiang acted as creator for most of upfront balls feeding the attack marshalled by Aubamenyang.With the stadium alive and buzzing, Gabon players were causing one problem after another for the Guinea Bissau defence but lacked the killer touch on all eight of their first half shot attempts.
The second half was much like the first in that both sides looked tentative to start but the two eventually settled down and began exchanging attacks. The high tempo didn’t last though as the teams went back into their shells and much of the period was played at a rather pedestrian pace.
But it took only ten minutes before Borrusia Dortmund forward,Pierre Aubamenyang out of defensive lapse belted a right footed shot from very close range to the bottom left corner sloted the ball into the back of the net in 50th minute.
With both Gabon seemingly content to settle for three point, Djrutus continued to push pinning the Gabonese into their own half in the last minutes.
Toni Silva shot in 72nd minutes nearly silenced the Gabonese fans after he split Panthers defence from a through ball but his curl effort went wide for the last what seemed to be last chance of the game.
Guinea Bissau’s danger man Zezinho won a free kick in the 90th minute that turned to be the game changer.His delivery was met by Juary Soares header from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner for an equalizer.
Line-ups:
Gabon : Ovono; Palun, E.Manga, Appindangoye, Obiang – Tandjingora (Poko 84′), Lemina (Kanga 73′), Ndong – Evouna (Aboué 88′), Aubameyang, Bouanga
Guinea-Bissau : Jonas; Dabo, Juary, Rudinilson, Soares – Zezinho, Santos (Aldair 75′), Nanissio, Brito – Camara (F.Mendy 66′), Mario (Piqueti 62′)
