AFCON 2023: Victor Osimhen’s Golden Boot Hopes Boosted After Emilio Nsue’s Equatorial Guinea Exits

• Emilio Nsue leads the AFCON 2023 Golden Boot race with five goals in the tournament
• Other contenders for the title have been given a boost after Equatorial Guinea’s exit
• Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen has scored just one goal in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations

The AFCON 2023 Golden Boot race is wide open after Sunday’s results.

Equatorial Guinea and Egypt both crashed out in the Round of 16, meaning the tournament’s top two scorers won’t be able to add to their goal tally in the latter stages of the competition.

That is good news for Nigeria's Victor Osimhen, who still has a shot at adding the AFCON Golden Boot prize to the scoring award he won in Serie A last season.

Osimhen's AFCON 2023 goal tally

The Nigerian star has scored just once in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, grabbing the Super Eagles’ opening goal in their game against Equatorial Guinea on Matchday 1.

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Despite his lack of scoring production, the Super Eagles have managed to reach the quarter-finals of Africa's showpiece event.

Nsue holds lead in Golden Boot race

Emilio Nsue and Mostafa Mohamed have the goals, but not a spot in the last 8 after their respective teams lost their round-of-16 matchups.

Equatorial Guinea lost 1-0 to Guinea, while Egypt suffered a gut-wrenching 8-7 defeat in the penalty shootout against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Nsue remains the leader in the Golden Boot race with five goals, per the BBC. All of those goals were scored in the games against Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast in Group A.

Mohamed closed in on Nsue’s lead with a strike against DR Congo, but his miss in the shootout means he's out of the Golden Boot race. He finished the tournament with just four goals following Egypt's exit.

Gelson, Mabululu, Osimhen looking to pounce

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If the Super Eagles manage to reach the final, Osimhen will have three games to add to his goal tally and catch up to Nsue’s mark.

The biggest threat to Nsue right now is Gelson Dala, who scored twice in Angola’s 3-0 win over Namibia. He stretched his goal tally to four after that brace, per Eurosport.

His teammate, Mabululu also scored in that encounter to stretch his goal tally in this tournament to three.

The other contenders for the Golden Boot award are Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman, Burkina Faso’s Bertrand Traore, Senegal’s Lamine Camara, Mali’s Lassine Sinayoko, South Africa’s Themba Zwane, and Guinea’s Mohamed Bayo, who each have two goals apiece.

Fans shower Osimhen with praise

Sports Brief previously reported on the celebrations following Nigeria’s win over Cameroon.

Super Eagles fans chanted Osimhen’s name after their 2-0 victory in their Round of 16 clash.

The striker assisted with one of Nigeria’s goals as they booked a place in the quarter-finals.