Garry Rodrigues scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner as the Cape Verde Islands beat four-time champions Ghana 2-1 in Group B in the ongoing African Cup of Nations.
Cape Verde went ahead in the 17th minute when Dutch-born Rodrigues’s shot was parried by Ghana goalkeeper Richard Ofori, falling for Jamiro Monteiro to tuck away from close range. Ghana thought they had equalized 10 minutes before halftime when Majeed Ashimeru struck a powerful shot into the net but a VAR review chalked off the effort.
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The equalizer however came 11 minutes after resumption when Alexander Djiku headed home from Jordan Ayew’s corner. The Black Stars continued to prod and should have taken the lead when Joseph Paintsil narrowly missed after being teed up by Antoine Semenyo.
The missed chances were to haunt them later on after Mohammed Salisu failed to clear and a clever touch from debutant substitute Gilson Benchimol took it past Ofori and into Rodrigues’s path.
The earlier Group B game saw Mohamed Salah convert a stoppage-time penalty to spare Egypt’s blushes in a 2-2 draw with Mozambique, playing at their first finals since 2010.
Ghana meets Egypt next on Thursday while Cape Verde takes on Mozambique on Friday, both at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium.
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