AFCON 2021 : INDOMITABLE LIONS KICK OFF WITH VICTORY IN THE OPENER, AS CAPE VERDE PIPS ETHIOPIA 

By Sakiru Olopade

The host country national team, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon kicked off their campaign in the 2021 AFCON CUP with a victory against the Stallions of Burkina Faso by two goals to one at the Olembe Stadium, Yaounde.

The Indomitable Lions with lack luster performance was lucky to have beaten the Stallions that was jittery in the early part of the encounter but later grew in confidence and took over the control of the opening match.

The Stallions stunned the Cameroonians in the 24th minute with a brilliant goal from Gustavo Sangare.

However, the two careless challenges from captain Bertard Traore and Issoufou Dayo gave two avoidable penalties to the Lions in the 40th and 45th minute that were converted by captain Vincent Aboubakar.

The second half saw a better coordinated Lions but unable to convert many scoring chances that came their way with captain Vincent Aboubakar being the most culprit. What could have been the third goal was cancelled by the VAR after 3 minutes of checking by the referee and made a decision for no goal.

In the second match of the group, the Blues Sharks of Cape Verde pipped Ethiopia by one goal to nill at the same venue, Olembe Stadium.

The Blue sharks, the favourite in the encounter lived up to the billing but Ethiopan’s defence proved a hard nut to crack .

However, to make the case worse for the Ethiopians, Yared Bayeh was shown the red card in the 12th minute of play.

The 10–man Ethiopian side conceded the only goal that put victory beyond them on the dot of 45th minute through Julio Tavares.

Cape Verde is now second, with the host country, Cameroon on the 1st position , Burkina Faso on the third while Ethiopia is occupying the bottom position after the first round of games in the group.