Africa-Press – Cape verde. The coaches of Cape Verde, Bubista, and Angola, Pedro Gonçalves, had the same reading of the draw (0-0) between the two teams, in the opening game of Group D qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
In a press conference after the game, Bubista said that Cape Verde deserved the victory for what they did in the second half.
“It was a divided game but we weren’t happy with the result because we wanted the three points. In the second half, because of what we did, we had the conditions to win the game”, said the coach, admitting that the opponent was stronger in the first half.
“The journey to the World Cup is a test of endurance, we gained a point (….) we had to manage the players and the team is to be congratulated for its effort and dedication”, he stressed.
In turn, Pedro Gonçalves, argued that Angola, for what it did in the first 45 minutes, deserved the three points, recognizing Cape Verde’s “good performance” in the complementary stage, “especially in the final minutes”.
On the occasion, the coach of the Palancas Negras, as the Angolan team is known, praised the growth of the Cape Verdean team in the African context.
“The Cape Verde team ends up being a reference in Africa today in terms of work, it will have its difficulties but it has its journey (…) it has been regular at a very satisfactory level, for good”, noted Pedro Gonçalves.
Cape Verde started the African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup with a 0-0 draw against their counterpart Angola.
In a match counting for the first round of Group D, on an afternoon in Cidade Praia, the public from Praia attended the National Stadium en masse, which on certain occasions during the game was complete with Mexican olas (waves).
According to the FIFA calendar, Cape Verde will play again five days later, on the 21st, with the counterpart of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, in the match of the day, to be played at the Mbombela Stadium (Nelspruit, South Africa) at 3 pm :00 (12:00 in Cape Verde), in a group that also includes the teams from Libya, Cameroon and Mauritius.
The final phase of the 2026 World Cup will be played from June 8th to July 19th, 2026 in Canada, the United States of America and Mexico, and will feature, for the first time, 48 teams, nine of which are from the African continent, an increase of four more teams compared to the last World Cup.
The 54 African countries, according to the new regulations, were divided into nine groups of six teams (group A to I) and the winners of each group automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
The four best runners-up will compete in a final four where the team that will represent Africa in an intercontinental playoff will be decided, which could increase the number of African countries in the World Cup to ten.
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