On Friday, Cape Verde will meet Egypt at Estadio Nacional de Cabo Verde in an attempt to maintain their hopes of making it to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
With victories in all four of their qualifying matches thus far, the visitors have already guaranteed their spot in the tournament in Morocco next year and are mathematically guaranteed to finish in second position.
Before Friday’s encounter, Cape Verde has lost five of their last seven games in all competitions, including a 3-0 setback to Egypt in September.
Egypt, who had placed second in two of the competition’s previous four iterations, will be hoping to continue their success in the main tournament in an attempt to snap a 14-year drought without winning another AFCON championship.
In reality, Egypt has won 16 of its last 20 qualifying matches, drawn four, and lost just one.
They have also won their last eight AFCON qualifiers.
Here is how both teams line up
Cape Verde Starting XI
Varela, Lopes, Costa, Borges Cabral, Fernandes, Tavares, Alvarenga, Duarte, Pina, Mendes, Moreira
Egypt Starting XI
Shenawy, Hamdy, Rabia, Fathy, Ahmed Eid, Shehata, Saber, Kouka, Mohamed, Faisal, Adel
