Cape Verde key men
‘Artificial surface should aid Bafana’
It’s not often that you find home fans supporting the visitors in a match.
This was the scene that greeted Bafana Bafana 12 years ago when they went to play Cape Verde Islands in Praia in a Fifa 2006 World Cup qualifier. Bafana weren’t exactly world beaters on the road at the time, and this was evident in their qualifying campaign.
In Cape Verde, their mission to win away was eased by the fact that they had the home crowd in their corner, and within 13 minutes, they were 2-0 up courtesy of goals by Benni McCarthy and Delron Buckley. Cape Verde pulled one back through Cafu late in the second half, but Bafana held on for the victory in front of 6 000 spectators.
“We received a warm welcome and we were embraced by all the fans when we got there. Obviously, the most important guy that was embraced was Benni because at the time he was playing in Portugal (for Porto) and Cape Verde is a [former] Portuguese colony,” Buckley explained. McCarthy had won the Uefa Champions League with Porto just a week earlier after they beat Monaco. “So we actually had the Cape Verde fans behind us. They were fascinated by players like myself, Benni and Quinton Fortune,” he said.
“But it wasn’t a very easy game. They had about three players who were playing in Europe and I remember there was a guy called Cafu, he was a striker. The funny thing is that I later got to play with Cafu at Famagusta in Cyprus,” Buckley recalled. So much has changed since then, with the Cape Verde’s squad to face Bafana only having one player who’s based in Africa. The rest play in Europe. They showed some improvement by qualifying for their maiden Africa Cup of Nations in 2013.
In fact, they were in the same group with Bafana and met in the opening match of the tournament at FNB Stadium, which ended goalless. Both nations were knocked out in the quarterfinals.
The playing conditions have also improved in the Atlantic Ocean Island. Praia’s Estadio Nacional has a capacity of 15 000 after some renovations and has an artificial pitch, which Buckley feels will be good for Bafana.
“It wasn’t easy for us (in 2005) because the pitch was very bumpy and it was hard to control the ball, especially when you were playing in Europe on perfect surfaces. It was like playing where cows are eating and there was just some grass on some areas. It wasn’t a walk in the park.
“The artificial pitch will be good for Bafana considering our passing game, because the ball won’t be bobbling all over the show,” he added.
Fernando Varela
From their current squad, the Greece-based defender, has been around the block for quite sometime. He’s been with the national team since 2008 and is closing in on 50 caps.
Luis Soares
Popularly known as Platini, the name he chose in honour of the former French international, is capable of giving the Bafana defence a run-around. Born in Praia, the 31-year-old winger currently plays in Romania.