Cape Verde progresses to quarter-finals, beats Mauritania 1-0

Ryan Mendes’ late strike from the spot handed Cape Verde qualification to the quarter-finals of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023 after defeating Mauritania 1-0 in Abidjan.

The Blue Sharks put up a dominating performance against Mauritania, who were playing in their first TotalEnergies CAF AFCON knockout game in their history. 

For the entire duration of the game, goalkeeper Babacar Niasse kept Mauritania in the game with his intelligent saves. 

Head coach, Pedro Leitao Brito threw more men forward and kept pushing at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan. 

With a few minutes left to end the game, Niasse conceded a penalty after going off his lines to prevent a goal. 

Cape Verde’s captain, Ryan Mendes, stepped up and scored for the Blue Sharks.

MATCH FACTS:

●      Cabo Verde have won their first knockout game ever at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (after losing 2-0 each time, against Ghana in 2013 and against Senegal in the 2021 edition). The Blue Sharks have won three of their last four AFCON encounters (D1), more wins than in their first 11 (D6 L3).

●      Mauritania have not found the net in 70% of their CAF Africa Cup of Nations games (7/10), only Guinea-Bissau register an higher ratio (75% – 9/12) among the teams which have played at least 10 encounters in the competition’s history.

●      Cabo Verde have attempted 18 shots against Mauritania tonight, their highest tally at the same CAF Africa Cup of Nations game since Opta began to collect these data (2010). At the opposite, the Almoravids have attempted 11 shots without a single one on target, only Ghana have fired more shots without finding the target in the same AFCON encounter since 2010 (16 shots, none on target v Côte d’Ivoire in final of the 2015 edition over 120 minutes).

●      Ryan Mendes has scored the second latest penalty goal in a CAF Africa Cup of Nations knockout game (87 minutes and 53 seconds) since Opta began to collect these data (2010), after the one scored by Javier Balboa (92 minutes and 6 seconds) with Equatorial Guinea v Tunisia on 31 January 2015 in quarter-final (2-1).

●      Sidi Amar (Mauritania) have made eight tackles against Cabo Verde tonight (3 won), the joint-highest tally in the same 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations game, equaling Aïssa Laïdouni with Tunisia v South Africa. Out of the last three AFCON editions, only Adama Guira (9 with Burkina Faso v Cameroon in January 2022) has made more tackles in a same encounter in the competition.

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