Portugal lose against Cape Verde

A second-half sending off for Andre Pinto capped a miserable evening for a second-string Portugal side, who were beaten 2-0 at home by African minnows Cape Verde in a friendly. EPA/JOSE SENA GOULAO

A second-half sending off for Andre Pinto capped a miserable evening for a second-string Portugal side, who were beaten 2-0 at home by African minnows Cape Verde in a friendly. EPA/JOSE SENA GOULAO

Published Apr 1, 2015

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Lisbon - A second-half sending off for Andre Pinto capped a miserable evening for a second-string Portugal side, who were beaten 2-0 at home by African minnows Cape Verde in a friendly.

Portugal fielded none of the players that beat Serbia in Euro 2016 qualifying on Sunday and were undone by two first-half goals scored within six minutes of each other.

Odair Fortes opened the scoring for Cape Verde after 37 minutes in fortuitous fashion as his right-wing cross appeared to catch the wind and flew over Anthony Lopes in the Portugal goal.

Centre back Gege grabbed the second with an expert far-post finish after a free kick from Cape Verde captain Heldon had reached him through a forest of legs.

The match, which was in aid of the victims of last November's volcanic eruption on the Cape Verdian island of Fogo, went from bad to worse for Portugal when Pinto received a red card for a foul following an audacious piece of skill by Heldon.

A mass of second-half substitutions by both sides interrupted the game's flow, but the team from the tiny African archipelago held on comfortably to record a memorable victory. – Reuters

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