Cape Verde, the emerging force in African football

Cape Verde have proven bookmakers wrong by not only denying four-time champions, Cameroon from participating at the ongoing 2013 AFCON but also qualified for the quarter-final ahead of other favourites in their group.

Cape Verde against South Africa in the opening match

When the draws for the qualifiers of the 2013 African Cup of Nations, AFCON in South Africa was concluded, bookmakers tipped four-time champions, Cameroon to pick the sole ticket ahead of lowly-rated Cape Verde, little did they know that football is no longer played on paper. Cape Verde proved everybody wrong and picked the sole ticket.

The inability of Cameroon to qualify for the 2013 AFCON is the second consecutive time. In the last AFCON, they were stopped by Senegal.

When Senegal stopped Cameroon from 2012 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, no one raised an eyebrow because of the threat Senegal posed in the past couple with the exploits of their players in Europe.

After a 0-2 deficient in the first leg in Cape Verde, many thought it was a fluke, and that the Cameroonians were going to run over them in the return leg in Yaoundé, especially with the return of four-time African Footballer of the Year, Samuel Eto’O to the team. The former Barcelona striker tried but his effort was not enough to stop Cape Verde from qualifying for their first AFCON.

The former quarter-finalist at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Italia `90 went to sleep and allowed their guest to score the needed goal that eventually nailed them. The two late goals scored by Cameroon were not enough to qualify, instead Cape Verde qualified on 3-2 aggregate. This is the first time in the history of the AFCON that Cameroon will be missing out for the second consecutive time. 

However, Cape Verde is fast becoming one of the emerging forces in African football. Soccer pundits describe the feat by the Islanders as an incredible one for a tiny island with a population of 500,000. Cape Verde become the smallest country to reach the continent's football showpiece.

Meanwhile, for many years, Cape Verde’s presence was felt at football's international stage. It was reported that Manchester United's Nani, Celtic great and captain of Sweden, Henrik Larsson; Patrick Vieira who won the World Cup with France are true sons of Cape Verde through birth or parentage. They could have played for Cape Verde but represented other African or European countries instead.

Cape Verde celebrating their first-ever AFCON goal

There are also claims that Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo has Cape Verdean roots, having a great-grandmother from one of the 10 islands that make up the Cape Verde nation.

46-year-old manager, Lúcio Antunes believes that a concerted effort to convince football-playing emigrants and their children to declare for the motherland has helped create a team. Antunes said he sought opportunities for players born on the islands to advance their development with foreign clubs.

Out of the 23 players, he took only one to South Africa, who now plays in the French Ligue 1, Lille, speedy winger, Ryan Mendes while top scorer, Héldon “Nhuck” Ramos plays for Marítimo. They are among those to have made successful transitions to European clubs. Many of the squad has been with Antunes since youth level, several of them having been members of the under-21 team that produced the country's greatest football feat before their participation in AFCON.

The present team won the gold medal at the 2009 Jogos da Lusofonia, the equivalent of the Commonwealth Games for Portuguese-speaking nations. Then the youngsters proved they were an emerging force when they held Portugal to a historic 0-0 draw in Lisbon before the last World Cup.

However, there are claims that Real Madrid coach, Jose Mourinho is behind the success of Cape Verde. They claimed that the Portuguese coach gave tips to the Islanders when he paid a visit to the president of that country.

Portugal-born defender Fernando Varelo said they know that the whole world was watching them because they knocked out Cameroon and they have promised not to let anybody down hence their presence form at AFCON. He claimed that rigour and hard work have been two of the hallmarks of the team.

Supporters of Cape Verde cheering up their team

During the second round of the 2013 AFCON qualifiers, they thrashed Madagascar 7-1 on aggregate; 3-1 in the first leg and 4-0 in the 2^nd leg. In the third round, they defeated Cameroon by 2-0 and lost by 1-2 in Yaoundé to qualify on 3-2 aggregate. In their build-up to the 2013 AFCON, they held the Super Eagles of Nigeria to a goalless draw in a friendly match.

At the 2013 AFCON, they held the host country, South Africa to a goalless draw and played a 1-1 with Morocco and defeated Angola by 2-1 to qualify for the quarter-final. They qualify ahead of Angola, who participated at the 2006 World Cup at the expense of Nigeria. The Cape Verdeans also picked the ticket ahead of highly-rated Morocco. They came from behind to stun Angola 2-1 and end up with five points, the same as South Africa.

Nando, scored an own goal in the 33^rd minute before the duo of Fernando Varela and Heldon Nhuck scored in the 81^st minute and 90 minutes respectively to upturn the result at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

A decade ago, Cape Verde were ranked 182nd in the world; they now stand 69th.

With the performance of Cape Verde so far, they have shown that truly, there are no more minnows in African Cup of Nations. The question is can they sustain the tempo and not follow others down the drain? Only time will tell?