The blue sharks of Cape Verde silenced 90,000 South Africans!

The Horn Times News-Jan 19, 2013
by Getahune Bekele, Johannesburg –South Africa

Had Cape Verde star striker Platini, simply composed himself and slot the ball into the empty net on the 5^th minute after a defense splitting pass by the 22 year old rising star Ryan Mendez, the island nation would have celebrated a fairy tale victory against the host nation South Africa.

After a spectacular music and dance opening ceremony inside half-empty national stadium, the goalless draw is the first in the history of the tournament as far as opening matches are concerned.

According to CAF media sources, the 29^th edition of African cup of nation which kicked off today has become the biggest in history in terms of ticket sell as more than half million tickets were snatched in short space of time.

Back to the match itself, with slight drizzle before and during the game, Cape Verde defenders, the gigantic Neves Nandos and the mercurial Carlitos, cousin of Manchester United star Lewis Nani, were instrumental in the credible and somewhat inspiring draw.

A fuming South African national team, Bafana Bafana coach Gorden Igsund was lost for wards to explain how his water tight defense led by Tottenham Hotspur’s Bongani Kumalo was cut to shreds by the likes of Cape Verde’s J.Tavaires and the young Ryan Mendez.

Now there is fear that South Africa might exit the 29^th edition of AFCON 2013 it is hosting, with the dangerous Atlas lions of Morocco and the unpredictable Angola waiting to capitalize on the woefully poor showing of Bafana.

However, for the fans of the black lions of Ethiopia who were at the stadium in large numbers, the performance of Cape Verde must have been encouraging.

Although their team has disadvantaged itself by arriving late, less than 72 hours before the crunch group C  match against defending champions Zambia, with the support of thousands of colorful Ethiopians, snatching a win or a draw is a possibility.

Zambia arrived in Nelspruit on 13 Jan while Nigeria touched down on 17 Jan. The first to show up in the beautiful city of Nelspruit was the stallions of Burkina Faso on 11 Jan 2013.

It remains to be seen how the Ethiopian national team players will overcome the jet lag and adapt to the weather pattern of the high veld before the Monday Afternoon clash.

infohorntimes@gmail.com