Ethiopia vs Cape Verde Islands Predictions

• Ethiopia are playing in just their second AFCON since 1982.
• 23 of Ethiopia’s 25-man squad ply their trade in their home country.
• Cape Verde reached the quarter final stage in one of their only two prior AFCON appearances.
• Cape Verde were unbeaten in qualifying, including vs host nation Cameroon.

No home comforts for Ethiopia

Ethiopia qualified for this AFCON finals by virtue of their imperious home form during qualifying (W3) which included a shock victory over the Ivory Coast. However, they went on to lose in all games on foreign soil, which could yet happen again for a team primarily from the ‘Land of Origins’.

Though Ethiopia won their last friendly ahead of the AFCON finals against Sudan, a return of just one win across six games prior, each of which produced under 2.5 total goals, will surely dampen the spirits of the one-time AFCON champions (1962) this time around.

Well travelled Cape Verde to make an impression

Contrarily to their opponents, Cape Verde’s squad is filled with a diaspora of players in their roster. Currently plying his trade in the Turkish Super Lig with Trabzonspor, Djaniny could make an impression here, three of his last four goals at club level were his team’s first of the game.

Impressively, Cape Verde shared a group with host nation Cameroon and managed to stay unbeaten throughout the qualifying phase (W2, D4) which includes picking up four points from the host nation themselves.

While Ethiopia undoubtedly have an amazingly rich history and an everlasting place in African football fans’ hearts, I predict that the Cabo Verdean’s will come out on top in this clash, with a routine 2-0 win having a good chance in the correct score market.

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