A 58th minute own goal from Mozambican player, Faisal Bangal at the Estadio do Zimpeto, presented Cape Verde their AFCON 2021 tickets as they finished with 10 crucial points behind Cameroon who accumulated  11 points in GROUP F of the qualifiers.

They first came into the competitive football scene in 2013 when they surprisingly reached the quarter finals in South Africa. After bagging five points in the group stage, they got eliminated by a more resilient Ghana side by 2-0 in the quarter final.

Two years later in Equatorial Guinea, their results in the group stage were not positive enough to qualify them to the knockout stages as they got beaten by DR. Congo on goal difference.

Cameroon 2021 is the third major tournament, The Blue Sharks will participate in.

With the inactiveness of Heldon Ramos and Babanco who are both on the wrong side of age, Cape Verde may depend on the likes of Ryan Mendes and Ianique dos Santos Tavares(Stopira) to pull some magic in a difficult group which has the likes of Burkina Faso and five time champions Cameroon.

Appearances so far : 2
Best Results:  Quarter finalists in 2013
Worst performance: Group stage in 2015
Head Coach : Pedro Leitao Brito(Bubista)
Most capped player: Elvis Manuel Monteiro Macedo (Babanco) with 62 appearances
Captain: Josimar Dias(Vozinha)
Top scorer: Heldon Ramos (15 goals in 52 appearances)
Player to watch: Ryan Mendes

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Frank Appiah