Cape Verde to take on France

Cape Verde coach Rui Aguas

Sunday Oct 06, 2019. 17:00

Cape Verde Islands coach Rui Aguas is excited about the opportunity that his team will play two friendlies in France this month, which also mark the return to the team of FC Porto striker Ze Luis.

Rui Águas says that it is important to take advantage of these matches to gain experience but also experiment, something that is difficult to do to competitive matches.

The Cape Verdians will take on Togo on Oct. 10 and then play French club Olympique Marseille three days later.

Ze Luis returns to the side for the first time in two years after turning down previous call-ups.

His six goals for FC Porto this season makes him joint top goalscorer in the Portuguese lreaue.

Ze Luis has 17 caps with two goals for the Cape Verdians and was last involved in with the national team in Jjne 2017.

The Cape Verdians, who have five new call-ups as previously reported by Africanfootball.com (https://africanfootball.com/news/773081/Cape-Verde-call-up-Irish-born-defender), must do without defender Fernando Varela, who has announced his retirement from international football after 11 years in the Cape Verdian side.

He says he will concentrate on his club career at Greek champions PAOK Salonika.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Elber Évora (Feyenoord Rotterdam, Netherlands), Mário Évora (Agueda, Portugal), Vozinha (AEL Limassol, Cyprus)

Defenders: Carlos Ponck (Istanbul Basaksehir, Turkey), Elson (Go Ahead Eagles, Netherlands), Lorenzo Fonseca (Sparta Rotterdam, Netherlands), Roberto Lopes (Shamrock Rovers, Ireland), Rodny Cabral (Politehnica Iasi, Romania), Romário (1º Dezembro, Portugal), Stopira (Videoton, Hungary), Tiago Almeida (Açademica Viseu, Portugal),

Midfielders: Bruno Leite (FK Haugesund, Norway), Hélder Tavares (Altay, Turkey), Hildeberto Pereira (Vitoria Setúbal, Portugal), Jeffrey Fortes (Excelsior Rotterdam, Netherlands), Kenny Rocha (Nancy, France), Platini (Politehnica Iasi, Romania)

Strikers: Djaniny (Al Ahly, Saudi Arabia), Heldon Ramos (Al Tawoon, Saudi Arabia), Júlio Tavares (Dijon, France), Lisandro Semedo (OFI Crete, Greece), Ricardo Gomes, Ryan Mendes (both Al Sharjah, United Arab Emirates), Vagner Dias (Nancy, France), Zé Luís (FC Porto, Portugal).