Debutants Cape
Verde made
history when
they came from a
goal down to
beat Angola 2-1 on Sunday in
their last Africa
Cup of Nations Group A fixture. The Blue Sharks were trailing the
2010 Afcon hosts in the first half,
but tactical changes in the second
half by coach Luis Antunes did the
trick for them to overturn the
results to qualify to the knockout stages for the first time in their
football history. Substitute Heldon Ramos was the
hero of the night as he
capitalised on a Lama fumble and
struck powerfully with his left
from close range. That was the
long-awaited moment for the country of 10 islands with a
population of less than 600,000 to
erupt into long lasting ecstasy. The Blue Sharks had hosts South
Africa to thank for drawing 2-2
with Morocco in the other group
fixture. The debutants conceded in the
first half when captain Nando
Neves mistakenly put the goal in
his own goal. He will never forget
this game for being a bitter-
sweet moment as he deflected a teasing low cross from Djalma
towards Amaro, who mounted
pressure on the defender on the
left, and eventually flicked the
ball into his own post. In a matter of two minutes, the
Blue Sharks almost drew parity as
Babanco curled in a wonderful
free-kick, but Julio Tavares'
flicked header whistled narrowly
past the post. The first half saw more of the
2010 quarter-finalists dominating
the exchanges with the
debutants leaving most of the
work to the ever-busy Platini to
do, but his sole efforts could not yield any meaningful results for
coach Luis Antunes and his
charges. Uruguay-born head coach
Gustavo Ferrin of Angola would be
thanking his goalkeeper Lama,
who denied the debutants twice
on the goal line, with two minutes
into the second half, when Tavares diverted a Babanco
corner towards the post. His
wonderful saves kept his side in
the lead throughout the game. former Manchester United player
Manucho, who engaged in a great
deal of hard work and lively
exchanges with Djalma, almost
doubled the lead of the Palancas
Negras when he settled on the ball in the danger zone from the
latter, positioned himself well and
smashed a powerful low drive
against the foot of the post. He
was, however, flagged offside. But then, with 10 minutes to go, Fernando Varela scored a goal when Tavares' header was
cleared off the line by Dias before
Gege's rebound was turned in on
the goal line by the centre-back,
sparking wild celebrations on the
touchline. The game looked settled in the
last 10 minutes with Morocco
leading in the other game, but
drama ensued whenHeldon scored. Lama, who had been
spectacular throughout the night,
fumbled with the ball and got into
the path of the Cape Verde
player who thrashed it to give his
side their first ever quarter-final berth in their major outing. The Blue Sharks qualify alongside
hosts Bafana Bafana of South
Africa.