January 18, (THEWILL) – Cameroon, hosts of the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, advanced to the knockout stage as Group A victors despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Cape Verde.
Cameroon had already qualified for the knockout stages after winning their first two games, but they were unable to maintain their perfect record in Group A.
In the 39th minute, the tournament’s current highest goal-scorer Vincent Aboubakar found the bottom-right corner from the edge of the box to extend his tournament record to five goals in three games.
But, shortly after the break, the Blue Sharks equalised with what turned out to be their lone shot of the second half, and it was a shocker.
A clever back-heeled finish past Andre Onana was how Garry Rodrigues met Kenny Rocha Santos’ cut-back to draw the Cape Verdeans level and give them a fighting chance to progress into the knockout stages behind Cameroon.
Cape Verde’s hopes of progressing remain alive thanks to that goal. The result means they finished third in their group behind Cameroon and Burkina Faso, but have a good chance of qualifying for the knockout stages as one of the four best third-placed teams.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
