Guinea-Bissau coach Baciro Cande was left to rue his side's failure to take their chances after a 4-2 TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations loss to Equatorial Guinea.

Despite scoring twice, the Djurtus were undone by Emilio Nsue's ruthless hat-trick in the Group A clash in Abidjan on Thursday.

"I feel sad. We wanted to win this match but we did not succeed," a dejected Cande told reporters after the game.

The Guinea-Bissau boss felt his team squandered opportunities to take control before falling behind.

"Before their first goal, we had four chances to score plus the penalty that was refused," Cande explained.

The Djurtus also had a strong penalty appeal waved away by VAR just before half-time at 0-0.

Cande believed missing out against one of the group's weaker sides was a big opportunity lost.

"We worked hard to be ready for this game. Football is sometimes like that," he said philosophically.  

Winless Guinea-Bissau now face the daunting task of needing victory over Nigeria in their final match to have any hope.

"We have one game left to close the group stage and we hope to win," Cande added.

But hopes of progression are slim after this demoralizing defeat condemned them to zero points so far.