Group B Team Cape Verde Islands. Previous appearances in finals: (1) 2013 Best performance: Quarterfinals in 2013 Drawn in Group B with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tunisia and Zambia. Coach: Rui Aguas Former assistant with the Portuguese national team who has also held the coaching jobs at Estoril and Vitoria Setubal but did not work as a head coach for over 10 years before being appointed to the Cape Verde job last year. As a player, he won 31 caps for Portugal between 1985 and 1993 and played in the 1988 European Cup final for Benfica, who lost to PSV Eindhoven. He was also on the books of FC Porto. The 54-year-olds wife hails from the Cape Verde Islands and he proved an instant success as they were among the first teams to book their place for the 2015 finals. Key player: Heldon Ramos. Age: 26. Forward. Heldon Augusto Almedia Ramos will lead Cape Verdes attack for a second successive tournament, having made a strong impression with his application at the 2013 finals when the islanders were surprise quarterfinalists. Moved to Portugal aged 18 and slowly made his way up through the lower leagues before being offered a professional contract by Maritimo. Moved last January to Sporting where he signed a five-year deal. Key goals in the last two qualifying campaigns helped the Cape Verde Islands to reach the Nations Cup despite being among the continents smallest countries. Fifa world ranking January 2015: 40 How they qualified: Top place in Group F, ahead of Zambia, Mozambique and Niger. Squad Goalkeepers: Ivan Cruz (Gil Vicente), Kevin Sousa (Nacional), Vozinha (Progresso Sambizanga) Defenders: Carlitos (APOEL Nicosia), Jeffrey Fortes (FC Dordrecht), Gege (Maritimo), Kay (Universitatea Craiova), Nivaldo Santos (Teplice), Stopira (Videoton), Fernando Varela (Steaua Bucharest) Midfielders: Babanco (Estoril), Calu Lima (Progresso Sambizanga), Platini (CSKA Sofia), Nuno Rocha (Universitatea Craiova), Sergio Semedo (Olhanense), Tony Varela (Excelsior) Forwards: Djaniny (Santos Laguna), Odair Fortes (Stade de Reims), Heldon (Sporting), Kuca (Estoril), Ryan Mendes (Lille), Garry Rodrigues (Elche), Julio Tavares (Dijon).
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 20:50:34 +0000
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