Visitors Cape Verde upset a weakened Portugal 2-0 in the coastal town of Estoril on Tuesday.
Portugal lacked many stars, including Cristiano Ronaldo, having won 2-1 at home against Serbia just 48 hours earlier in a Euro 2016 qualifier.
The Blue Sharks scored twice within six minutes close to halftime at Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota for a rare away victory over European opposition.
Photo: EPA
An Odair Fortes cross found the corner of the net on 38 minutes and Gege tapped the ball in at the far post to double the lead and seal a win over a side that had four players making their debuts. Former Portuguese colony Cape Verde comprises a string of islands off the coast of Senegal and has just 500,000 inhabitants.
The Sharks are ranked 38 in the world — 31 places below Portugal — and made a first-round exit from this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea after three consecutive draws.
Ghana and Mali drew 1-1 at Stade Sebastien Charlety in Paris, enabling both nations to avoid suffering two straight losses during the international window.
Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, who has not scored for Serie A outfit Udinese this season, put the Africa Cup of Nations runners-up ahead on 53 minutes.
He nudged a through-ball past Soumaila Diakite and then ran past the fallen goalkeeper to tap the ball into the net.
Bakary Sako from English second-tier promotion contenders Wolverhampton Wanderers leveled by converting a 71st-minute penalty needlessly conceded when Richmond Boakye fouled Molla Wague.
Malian Modibo Maiga rattled the crossbar during the first half and Boakye struck the post after halftime.
A stoppage-time equalizer from Yu Dabao forced Tunisia to settle for a 1-1 draw with hosts China.
Tunisia looked set for victory having taken the lead on 39 minutes.
Substitute Mohamed Ali Moncer crept unnoticed to the far post and gave the China goalkeeper no chance with a powerful header.
Saber Khalifa wasted a chance to double the advantage soon after halftime when his penalty was blocked and he fired the rebound wide.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, who exceeded expectations with a third-place Africa Cup of Nations finish, were beaten 1-0 by Iraq at the Khalid bin Mohammed Stadium in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Yaser Kasim from English third-tier side Swindon Town scored the winner on the hour mark, running across the field just outside the box before unleashing an unstoppable rising shot.
Corentin Martins celebrated his first success since succeeding fellow Frenchman Patrice Neveu as coach of Mauritania with a 2-0 victory over Niger.
After 73 goalless minutes, Adama Ba put the hosts ahead from a penalty and Ali Abeide added a second soon after.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but