Cape Verde took a giant step towards making it to the next stage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) after they beat Black Stars in their Group B opening match on Sunday evening in Abidjan.
It was a difficult night for the four times champions as their poor run in the AFCON continued with winning only one match out of nine since 2019.
Following a mistake by goalkeeper Richard Ofori, Jameiro Monteiro’s tap-in gave the Blue Sharks the lead 17 minutes into the contest.
Chris Hughton’s men pushed for the equalizer before the end of the first half with Majeed Ashimeru scoring a beautiful long range goal but got disallowed after Ransford Yeboah was caught offside.
After the break, the Black Stars looked more composed on the ball and managed to get back into the game with centre back Alexander Djiku, who got to the end of Jordan Ayew’s corner, to get the equalizer on 56th minute.
But Ghana got stunned in added time after the Black Stars lost concentration at the back, giving Gary Rodrigues the opportunity to secure all three points for Cape Verde.
The Black Stars now lie bottom of Group B with no point, and will have to beat Egypt in their second game on Thursday to give them any chance of progressing into the next stage of the competition.
