Cape Verde coach Bubista praised the bravery of his players – and took a swipe at Uruguay boss Marcelo Bielsa – after a pulsating 2-2 draw that keeps both teams in the hunt for a place in the World Cup round-of-32.
A game that featured several momentum swings saw Cape Verde go ahead through Kevin Pina’s brilliant free-kick only for goals from Maxi Araujo and Agustin Canobbio to put the South Americans in front by half-time.
Cape Verde summoned the inner strength that saw them get an opening-round draw with Spain and hit back to secure another point thanks to Helio Varela shortly after the hour mark.
“I want to congratulate the team and all of our people for the way we played, with our hearts,” said Bubista.
“We finished the match under a lot of difficulty, with many players already suffering from cramps. But our team was brave throughout, always looking to win the game, and that makes us very happy. We trust all of our players. We always make changes, and our team continues to approach matches with the desire to win and with good organisation. We have to be pleased with what we achieved today.”
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Cape Verde boss Bubista accuses Bielsa of hypocrisy after Araujo leveller
Bubista was less impressed with Bielsa, whose side’s equaliser came about in controversial circumstances.
Uruguay’s Federico Vinas was helping Cape Verde’s Telmo Arcanjo with cramp, holding up the player’s leg to stretch out his calf muscle, but then dropped it when he realised his side were on the attack.
An undermanned Cape Verde defence could not keep Uruguay at bay with Araujo heading in after Sidny Cabral’s header had come back off his own post.
Bielsa has often preached the values of fair play and once famously allowed Aston Villa to score an unchallenged goal when he was boss of Leeds.
“I was upset by that – because Bielsa taught us to have fair play,” he said. “That’s in his press conferences, that’s in the matches that his teams play. We learned what fair play was from his attitude.
“It felt frustrating, but that’s part of the game and part of the experience of growing with the team.
“We could have done something to prevent that situation, we could have kicked the ball off the pitch, but we’re trying to do things our own way.
“It’s also natural that players will sometimes feel pressured and we can say that about the Uruguay team as well. We can only grow from what happened.”
Cape Verde chances promising but Uruguay up against it
Cape Verde and Uruguay both have two points from two games. Cape Verde face Saudi Arabia in a winnable final game while Uruguay have to take on European champions Spain, who swatted the Saudis aside 4-0 yesterday.
“We have two draws that we could have won. Undoubtedly, we deserved to win the match with Saudi Arabia and today, we should have won it,” Bielsa said. “Even with the goals we conceded, we should have won still.
“When we defended well, the match allowed us to pull ahead. When we lost control of the game, that lead narrowed compared to our opponents. The decisive factor in the result was that we let our intensity drop, and that shouldn’t have happened.
“As far as I see it, we need to play against Spain. We have the need and we have the obligation to beat them. It is a gargantuan challenge for all of us.”
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