Our prediction for this Africa Cup of Nations 2024 match:
Cape Verde
Match Time & Date:
07/06/2022
12:00 PM
Prediction: 2-1
Togo
Estadio Municipal Aderito Sena will host Tuesday’s AFCON qualifier between Cape Verde and Togo, the two teams who last met in a friendly three years ago. Back then Cape Verde defeated Togo 2-1, and the Blue Sharks are seen as favourites to beat the Sparrowhawks in Mindelo as well. Duarte is widely expected to replace Cuca in the starting XI, with experienced forward Julio Tavares pushing for a start as well after coming as a substitute in a 2-0 loss to Burkina Faso.
Togo, on the other hand, were not at their sharpest in a 2-2 draw with Eswatini, which is probably the main reason why we are going to put our money on the hosts. Former Fulham forward Floyd Ayite should be recalled to the starting XI as head coach Paulo Duarte is determined to make changes to the team that dropped two points in the Group B opener.
Highlighted Player (Garry Rodrigues):
Garry Rodriguez is a Cape Verde international who was born in Rotterdam on November 27, 1990. Rodrigues started his youth career at his hometown club Feyenoord and in 2007 he moved to Real SC. The pacey winger made his senior debut as a XerxesDZB player during the 2009/2010 season and after scoring two goals in 15 appearances in the league, he left the club in 2011.
The Cape Verde footballer played for the likes of Rostocker, Boshuizen, Den Haag, Dordrecht, Levski Sofia, Elche and PAOK before joining Galatasaray in 2017. Rodrigues quickly established himself as a first team regular at Gala and he played an important role in Fatih Terim’s team that won the Turkish Super Lig in the 2017/2018 season.
Speaking of his international career, Garry Rodrigues made his debut for Cape Verde national team in August, 2013 against Gabon. The Galatasaray winger represented Cape Verde at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.
Highlighted Team (Togo):
The Togolese national football team are well known for the incident that happened at the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola. The Togo team bus was attacked by gunmen and it has to be noted that three men were killed during the attack. As a result, les Eperviers decided to withdraw from the tournament, but that decision proved costly for the Togolese national team.
The Confederation of African Football banned Togo from taking part in the next two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations and the Togolese Football Association were fined $50,000 as well. Speaking of their participation in the World Cup finals, Togo qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but they failed to impress in the group stages of the showpiece tournament, suffering a loss in each of their three group games against France, Switzerland and South Korea.
Emmanuel Adebayor is the most famous footballer who played for les Eperviers and you should know that the former Arsenal striker scored 31 goals in 66 appearances for the Togolese national team.
