Cape Verde's 2-1 win over Ghana in Africa Cup of Nations Group B on Sunday was arguably the biggest surprise result so far this edition after substitute Garry Rodrigues secured a famous victory at Stade Felix-Houphouet-Boigny.
The result angered one Ghanaian supporter so much that he tried to hit Black Stars boss Chris Hughton after the game before he was led away by police.
Cape Verde are the smallest of the 24 nations competing at this edition of AFCON in Ivory Coast yet emerged victorious as part of a surprise opening series of results.
Hughton was confronted at the team hotel as Ghana returned from the stadium and security staff had to intervene during a verbal dressing down.
"We are incredibly, hugely disappointed with the result," said Hughton of the final score. "We came into the game with a game plan. We changed the way of playing, the system a bit so that we could start on the front foot. We thought the team that were put out was certainly a more offensive team. This was our intention. I think it rocked us the (first) goal that we conceded but I thought we got back into the game."
Some angry Ghana 🇬🇭 fans tried to attack the team after the 2-1 defeat to Cape Verde on Sunday. @SaddickAdams also reported that one of the supporters was detained after an attack on the manager- Chris Hughton #AFCON2023 pic.twitter.com/BiqMgHa2ht
— Eric Njiru (@EricNjiiru) January 15, 2024
Ghana recently lost a CAF qualification zone game against Comoros as part of the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers and looked set to avoid a similar fate when Alexander Djiku canceled out Jamiro Monteiro's opener.
However, Rodrigues grabbed an unlikely winner in time added on to deal Hughton and a relatively star-studded squad a major blow in their hopes of AFCON success.
"At that stage (Ghana's equaliser) it looked like we could go on and win it," he added. "We are hugely, hugely disappointed with our result. And I know, and this group of players also know, how the Ghanaian people see this game, see this tournament and our expectations going into this one."
Hughton, despite playing for Republic of Ireland internationally, took over the national team of his father's homeland back in March having been on the staff in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
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