Cape Verde, DR Congo both earn second draw in goalless affair
Cape Verde and the Democratic Republic of Congo each picked up their second draw of the African Nations Cup after sharing a 0-0 stalemate in Ebebiyin.
In a game full of attacking endeavour but lacking in quality in the final third, Cape Verde should really have snatched the win in the closing stages but were denied by some brave goalkeeping by veteran Robert Kidiaba.
First, Kidiaba pushed out a header from Odair Fortes before superbly blocking Admilson Gege from the follow-up, then the 38-year-old custodian denied substitute Heldon from another great opening two minutes later.
Heldon will probably feel he should have shot first time after being put into space inside the area but, after choosing to cut inside a covering defender, he saw his close-range effort kept out by Kidiaba.
The result leaves both teams with two points in Group B, leaving them two each points behind leaders Tunisia.
Cape Verde, who drew 1-1 with Tunisia in their opener thanks to a 78th-minute penalty equaliser from Heldon, had the best chance of the first half when Elvis Babanco's deep free-kick picked out the unmarked Carlos Lima at the far post.
Lima got his header on target but it was straight at Kidiaba, who gathered it on his line.
At the other end, Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha managed to recover quickly enough to avoid an embarrassing own goal following a mix-up with one of his defenders, whose cushioned back-header had beaten Vozinha and was heading towards goal before the custodian got back.
DR Congo looked livelier at the start of the second half and nearly benefited from another defensive mistake in the 53rd minute, Cedrick capitalising on an under-hit pass before firing in a shot which flew just wide of the top corner.
It should really have been Cape Verde celebrating the win, though, as they created the best chances of the game in the final five minutes.
Fortes must have thought he had scored when he powerfully headed Heldon's corner towards goal, but Kidiaba was in the right place to save.
Kidiaba should probably have done better than parry the ball back out into the danger zone, but he did brilliantly to stop Gege's close-range effort from the loose ball.
Kidiaba then produced similar heroics two minutes later to block Heldon's shot as the points were shared.
Game Information