Cape Verde beat Cameroon to keep AFCON dream alive

Cape Verde came from a goal down to beat already qualified Nations cup hosts Cameroon Cameroon 3-1 in Praia on Friday to keep their own qualification hopes alive.

Goals from Carlos Pereira and Ryan Mendes in between Macky Bagnack’s own goal saw the Blue Sharks produce a comeback after going down to a sublime Pierre Kunde freekick in the first half.

The result, Cape Verde’s first win in the group after four consecutive draws, sees them move to seven points, two ahead of third place Rwanda and have destiny in their own hands heading into the final match day on Tuesday.

They will be away to bottom placed Mozambique in the final round of matches where they will need to win to confirm their qualification. A draw might be risky if Rwanda pull off a win away to Cameroon as the Eastern Africans have a better goal aggregate.

In Praia, under very tough conditions, Cameroon got into the lead after 14 minutes when Kunde took advantage of the strong wind to beat the keeper with a well taken long range freekick. The Cameroonians had sought to take full advantage of the wind and before the goal, Vincent Abubakar had taken a swirling volley from the edge of the area which was turned behind for a corner.

Read AlsoWorld Cup Qualifiers: Ward-Prowse, Watkins score first England goals

Two minutes after conceding, Cape Verde had a brilliant chance to draw level when Mendes broke into the box off a through pass, but his attempted lob over the keeper went wide.

But the home side kept the pressure, finally levelling matters after 25 minutes when Pereira shot low from inside the box after the Cameroon backline struggled to clear a long throw.