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Olembe (Cameroon), Janaury 10: Julio Tavares' first-half goal proved enough for Cape Verde to get their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign off to a winning start against 10-man Ethiopia.

Ethiopia's appearance in this year's finals marks only their second in the last 20 editions of the tournament and for them the Group A encounter began in inauspicious fashion.

They saw centre-back Yared Baye sent off after a review from the VAR in the 12th minute.

Baye hacked down Tavares on the edge of the box after losing possession inside his own half.

Cape Verde finally capitalised on their extra man in first-half stoppage time, Garry Rodrigues volleying Jamiro Monteiro's deep cross to the far post back across goal for Tavares to nod in.

Despite dominating possession and chances, Cape Verde could not add to their lead in the second half, but it mattered not with Ethiopia never threatening to find an equaliser.

Cameroon starts with victory

Earlier, hosts Cameroon recovered from an early shock in their opener against Burkina Faso, with late first-half penalties from Vincent Aboubakar eventually seeing them start their campaign with all three points.

After an opening ceremony featuring tribal-style shields emblazoned with national flags, the "Indomitable Lions" fell behind in their home tournament when Gustavo Sangaré gave Burkina Faso the lead midway through the first-half, the Cameroonian defense punished for poor marking in the box.

But a physical Burkina Faso side only had themselves to blame when they gave away two penalties for clumsy tackles before half-time, Aboubakar converting both to give Cameroon a lead they never relinquished in an entertaining game.

The home fans celebrated a successful AFCON start at the Olembe Stadium, which was limited to 80 per cent capacity due to COVID-19 with access restricted to fans with proof of vaccination and a negative PCR test.

Matches not involving Cameroon will be restricted to 60 per cent capacity, but that's better than nothing three years after the tournament was originally supposed to take place.

Cameroon was initially scheduled to host the event in 2019, but the competition was moved to Egypt due to concerns about preparation and security, with the West African country in the grip of the Anglophone Crisis and also threatened by the Boko Haram insurgency in neighboring Nigeria.

Cameroon was awarded the 2021 tournament instead, which was then postponed by one more year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, exactly 50 years after Cameroon last hosted AFCON in 1972, the tournament is back in the football-mad country.

Club and country disputes

But even this year, the buildup has not been without issues.

With an increasing number of African players starring in some of Europe's top leagues - including the likes of Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mane (Senegal), Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez (Algeria) and Bayern Munich's Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Cameroon) - tensions have arisen between clubs and countries.

In December, the European Club Association (ECA) wrote to FIFA's deputy secretary-general Mattias Grafström citing concerns over player safety against the background of the spread of COVID-19.