The west African islanders overcame mighty Cameroon to debut at the finals of Africa's showpiece football event, where they again impressed with draws against hosts South Africa and Morocco before coming from behind to beat the Angolans for what was their first ever Africa Cup of Nations victory.
http://www.fifa.com/...
Football history is full of unlikely upsets and fairytale victories, but few compare with the tale the dreamweavers of the Cape Verde Islands are spinning in their first ever appearance in the African Nations Cup finals.
Their progress from an obscure footballing backwater ranked 182nd out of FIFA's 200-odd members a decade ago to a place just outside the top 50 last year is a remarkable rise by any standards.
http://sports.yahoo.com/...
Its coach, Luis Antunes, is an air-traffic controller, but not even he would have predicted that the tiny island of Cape Verde would soar into the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations Sunday.
The smallest ever nation to score and win at the tournament, Cape Verde defeated Angola 2-1 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
There are 10 islands -- with a population of just half a million -- which make up Cape Verde's archipelago.
But in its first ever appearance at the finals, where most were expecting it to fail, the 'Blue Sharks' have captured the imagination of the watching world with its fairytale story.
http://edition.cnn.com/...
I'm a European-born Cape Verdean American so I have some pride here.
The backwater of backwaters now coming onto an international stage to say, "Here I am."