Afcon 2023: Equatorial Guinea’s Jesus Owono vows to stop Victor Osimhen

By Wale Mustapha

Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper, Jesús Owono has promised to give his best performance that will see him keep out Victor Osimhen when they face Nigeria in their 2023 African Cup of Nations opener on Sunday.

The Nzalang Nationale were drawn in the same group with the Super Eagles alongside with tournament hosts, Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau.

Owono and his teammates will start their campaign against the three-times winners, with major focus on the young goalkeeper on stopping the reigning African Footballer of the Year, who scored 10 goals during the qualifiers.

The 22-year-old goalkeeper has name-checked Osimhen as major threat in the Super Eagles side but assured he’ll do his best to keep the 25 year old striker quiet.

“I will do my best to stop Victor Osimhen and the other Super Eagles players in order to get a positive result in the first match,” Owono said during the pre-match conference ahead of Nigeria’s clash.

“We were unknown in the last AFCON, and we did a great job. For this AFCON, the teams have more information about us. We train a lot, and we have prepared for the ramble.”

The game comes up by 2pm at the Stade Olympique Allassan Outarra in Abidjan.