Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Cape Verde national team enters the field today, the 12th, for its second participation in the handball world cup. Our selection measures forces with Uruguay in the first round of group C in the competition. After facing the Covid-19 nightmare at the Egypt World Cup in 2021, this year the team promises to give its best and show quality in Sweden and Poland.
Cape Verde’s first participation in the handball world cup, in 2021, in Egypt, was overshadowed by Covid-19. The country played just one game against Hungary before being sidelined by the virus.
In this year’s World Cup, the team promises to be at 100% and show quality in Sweden and Poland. This second participation tastes like a first time, as the player of the selection, the international Flávio Fortes, says.
“The first participation has a bitter taste due to Covid-19. We didn’t have the opportunity to express ourselves. It was everyone’s will. That this edition will be different and that we can show our quality regardless of the final result”, the player perspective.
Cape Verde perspective “good performance”
For this 2023 edition, Flávio says that the team wants to be present at the highest level in the world championship and conquer what was left behind in Egypt. The African runners-up measure strength today, Thursday, against Uruguay and share Group C with Sweden and Brazil.
Having Uruguay and Brazil in the same group, according to this Cape Verdean international, does not change the way the game is faced, on the contrary, it says that all games will be faced with the same level of responsibility.
The handball Blue Sharks expect a “good performance” in the world cup and hope to overcome the group stage and reach the main round. Coach Jjubomir Obradovi c believes that Cape Verde has all the conditions to go far in the competition, despite the rules still being tight in Sweden and Poland with regard to Covid-19. Players have been constantly subjected to screening tests.
Players “Afraid of Nobody”
The president of the Cabo Verdean Handball Federation, Tony Teixeira, says that the players will play “without fear of anyone” and with respect for their opponents. The squad were in a preparation tournament in Switzerland to gain a competitive pace, however, as you say, during the preparation there were some injuries, which led to the recovery of some players for today’s game.
For today’s game there has been a “great demand” for tickets by Cape Verdeans in Sweden, as reported by Tony Teixeira and also some requests for official selection equipment.
Drop-by-drop financing
Cape Verde’s participation was initially budgeted at PTE 23 thousand, but due to adaptations, the amount was reduced to PTE 17 thousand. With a caravan of 23 people, including 17 players, the Cape Verdean squad is one of the smallest in the competition. Tony Teixeira says that the selection still faces some difficulties in obtaining funding, since the support has been attributed to “drop by drop”.
“We have received some support but it has been coming in drop by drop. There are things that do not wait, when you go to a competition in the world you must make an effort so that things happen at the moment, it has to be in competition time and not in Cape Verde time”, pointed out Tony Teixeira.
The FCA president takes the opportunity to challenge national companies and state entities to look at the world championship in “another way” and finance the national team, because, as he says, the presence of Cape Verde in the competition alone is already a victory.
The summoned
After today’s game against Uruguay, Cape Verde faces Sweden on the 14th and Brazil on the 16th of January. From Cape Verde, those called up are Élcio Fernandes, Luís Almeida, Edmilson Gonçalves, Paulo Moreno, Elledy Semedo, Guatthe r Furtado, Leandro Semedo, Edmilson Garcia, Edmilson Oliveira, Nelson Pina, Felisberto Landim, Délcio Pina, Gilson Correia, Paulo Andrade, Bruno Landim, Flávio Fortes and Admilson Furtado.
32 teams participate in the handball world championship, with Denmark being the current champion. The competition runs from the 11th to the 29th of January in Sweden and Poland.
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