Soccer-Hosts Equatorial Guinea seek to feed off crowd energy

By Mark Gleeson BATA, Equatorial Guinea, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea are hoping to again feed off the fervent home support in Saturday's African Nations Cup quarter-final against Tunisia but feel they are also able to compete as equals, captain Emilio Nsue said on Friday. "We'll have a 12th player at the game and that is going to be difficult for Tunisia. But we also know a lot about them and I think we can play well against them," the Middlesbrough player told reporters. "They like to have the ball a lot but we'll try to get a fair share of the possession, to go to attack quickly and to press them." Nsue, a former Spanish under-23 international, has been one of the star performers as the hosts, with a population of less than two million, surprisingly reached the last eight, fueled by the energy from capacity crowds. "For me it's been the most amazing experience. It's been a dream to get this far," he said after the hosts finished second in Group A following draws with Congo and Burkina Faso and a surprise 2-0 win over neighbours Gabon. "We are a small country but our hearts are big. For us Gabon were like 'galacticos', but we beat them. Now we have the biggest day in our nation's history." Equatorial Guinea's progress to the knockout stages defied all odds as they only secured a place in the tournament after stepping in as hosts at late notice in place of Morocco. As a result they had only a month to prepare for the tournament and appointed a coach just two weeks before kick off. Coach Esteban Becker, who said previously their progress to the last eight was like "a Cinderella story" said a semi-final place would be "monstrous, monumental". "We are ranked 118 by FIFA. Tunisia are 22nd. One month ago this team did not exist. We have young players but in three weeks we have worked well on tactics. We had the quality to match the teams in our first round group and we are now concentrated on Tunisia too." Argentine-born Becker, the women's team coach in Equatorial Guinea, was moved across to handle the men's side just two weeks before kick off after the unexpected dismissal of Andoni Goikoetxea. (Editing by Pritha Sarkar)