Cape Verde anything but small fry

Gordon Igesund says Bafana Bafana must be careful not to underestimate Cape Verde when they take on the islanders in a 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifier in Praia tomorrow evening.

Igesund was the last Bafana coach to face Cape Verde, in South Africa’s 2013 Africa Cup of Nations opener at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Bafana found the match tough going, only managing a goalless draw with the Blue Sharks, though both sides ended up making it to the Afcon quarterfinals.

“The big thing here is, number one is that everyone thinks Cape Verde is a little island and that we are going to hammer them. It wasn’t like that, with the experience we had at Afcon 2013.

“I think about 70% of their team was just born in Cape Verde or had ties there somewhere along the line. It will be a very difficult game, especially over there. We must not fall into the trap of thinking we are playing a team of locally-based players from Cape Verde.”

Indeed, the whole of Luis Antunes’ current Cape Verde squad ply their trade in overseas leagues, from Portugal to Turkey, to Cyprus to the US, with the football association having done a fine job of scouring the globe for players with Cape Verde ancestry.

This is a team that nearly made it to the Fifa World Cup in Brazil in 2014, and that at one stage reached the number one position in Africa on Fifa’s world rankings. Cape Verde have stumbled a little of late, losing their first two 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, but they still have players to cause Bafana serious problems, like Turkey-based winger Ryan Mendes, and striker Julio Tavares, who already has a goal for Dijon in France’s Ligue 1 this season.

“We still have not scored in the group and the first one (South Africa), who is our opponent, has four points, so this game is very important for the aspirations of Cape Verde,” Cyprus-based captain Marcos Soares told Inforpress.