Introduction
[Stub]- African Cup Appearances: 2
- Best African Cup Result: Fourth Place (African Cup I)
- World Cup Appearances: 0
- Best World Cup Result: Has Not Qualified
Early World Cups
Cape Verde Islands did not participate in any of the first five World Cups.
World Cup VI
Cape Verde Islands finally managed to put a team together, using mostly players on Portuguese teams who had Cape Verdean ancestry, in time to enter
World Cup VI qualifying. The squad was drawn into a tough group which included
Mali,
Mozambique,
Nigeria,
Senegal, and
Togo. Cape Verde managed to draw their opening game against Mali, but didn't fare very well during the rest of the campaign. The more experienced squads took advantage of the newcomers and handed Cape Verde 6 losses in their next seven games, with a draw against Senegal being the only point Cape Verde picked up during that span.
Another meeting with Mali on Matchday 9 saw Cape Verde earn their first ever competitive victory, winning 1-0. Unfortunately, there was only one matchday remaining and the Blue Sharks were way too far behind to qualify. Instead, they held Nigeria to a 1-1 draw and finished the campaign in last place with 6 points from 1 win, 3 draws, and 6 losses.
Senegal ended up winning the group with 23 points while
Togo finished second with 19. The two proved formidable in the World Cup itself, as Senegal reached the championship match and finished second place overall. Togo also reached the quarterfinals, and were eliminated by Senegal on penalty kicks!
World Cup VII - World Cup IX
Cape Verde was one of many teams impacted by the move from xbox to wii. Due to having many Portuguese players on their previous roster, it took longer to sort through who was still eligible and who no longer was, and thus it took time to reassemble the squad. The team was finally created in time for
African Cup I, but had missed three World Cups in the meantime.
African Cup I
Cape Verde were drawn into a qualifying group consisting of
Cameroon,
Egypt, and
Ghana. They won their opening match against Egypt to set the tone of the campaign where they would go on to win 3 more matches and only lose once, with one draw as well. This gave them 13 points total, more than enough to top the group and qualify to the main competition, ahead of Ghana who finished second with 8 points. Cape Verde had crushed Ghana 6-1 during qualifying, their biggest win to date.
In the tournament, Cape Verde continued their great form and beat
Angola in their opening game. A draw against
Congo and then another win over
Burkina Faso put them in one of the top spots to advance, despite a late loss to
Mozambique in the group finale. In the quarterfinals, the Blue Sharks shocked everyone by upsetting
Cote d'Ivoire. The run to the title was finally ended in the semifinals with a harsh 4-0 loss to
Morocco, the worst ever loss recorded at the time. Morocco went on to win the championship while Cape Verde lost to
Mali 3-2 to finish fourth place overall.
Roster
[Stub]Competitions
Honors
Competitive Matches
vs
Angola: 1 W 0 D 0 L 2 GF 1 GA
Cape Verde Islands 2 - 1 Angola (African Cup I Group Stage)
vs
Burkina Faso: 1 W 0 D 0 L 4 GF 1 GA
Cape Verde Islands 4 - 1 Burkina Faso (African Cup I Group Stage)
vs
Cameroon: 1 W 0 D 1 L 3 GF 3 GA
Cameroon 2 - 1 Cape Verde Islands (African Cup I Qualifying)
Cape Verde Islands 2 - 1 Cameroon (African Cup I Qualifying)
vs
Congo: 0 W 1 D 0 L 0 GF 0 GA
Cape Verde Islands 0 - 0 Congo (African Cup I Group Stage)
vs
Cote d'Ivoire: 1 W 0 D 1 L 6 GF 6 GA
Cape Verde Islands 4 - 2 Cote d'Ivoire (African Cup I Quarterfinals)
Cape Verde Islands 2 - 4 Cote d'Ivoire (African Cup II Group Stage)
vs
Egypt: 2 W 0 D 1 L 7 GF 7 GA
Egypt 1 - 2 Cape Verde Islands (African Cup I Qualifying)
Cape Verde Islands 4 - 2 Egypt (African Cup I Qualifying)
Cape Verde Islands 1 - 4 Egypt (African Cup II Group Stage)
vs
Ghana: 1 W 1 D 0 L 8 GF 3 GA
Cape Verde Islands 6 - 1 Ghana (African Cup I Qualifying)
Ghana 2 - 2 Cape Verde Islands (African Cup I Qualifying)
vs
Mali: 1 W 1 D 1 L 4 GF 4 GA
Cape Verde Islands 1 - 1 Mali (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Mali 0 - 1 Cape Verde Islands (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Cape Verde Islands 2 - 3 Mali (African Cup I Third Place)
vs
Morocco: 0 W 0 D 1 L 0 GF 4 GA
Cape Verde Islands 0 - 4 Morocco (African Cup I Semifinals)
vs
Mozambique: 0 W 0 D 3 L 1 GF 5 GA
Mozambique 2 - 1 Cape Verde Islands (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Cape Verde Islands 0 - 2 Mozambique (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Cape Verde Islands 0 - 1 Mozambique (African Cup I Group Stage)
vs
Nigeria: 0 W 1 D 1 L 1 GF 4 GA
Cape Verde Islands 0 - 3 Nigeria (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Nigeria 1 - 1 Cape Verde Islands (World Cup VI Qualifying)
vs
Senegal: 0 W 1 D 1 L 1 GF 4 GA
Senegal 1 - 1 Cape Verde Islands (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Cape Verde Islands 0 - 3 Senegal (World Cup VI Qualifying)
vs
Togo: 0 W 0 D 2 L 2 GF 4 GA
Cape Verde Islands 1 - 2 Togo (World Cup VI Qualifying)
Togo 2 - 1 Cape Verde Islands (World Cup VI Qualifying)
vs
Tunisia: 0 W 1 D 0 L 0 GF 0 GA
Cape Verde Islands 0 - 0 Tunisia (African Cup II Group Stage)