Ebebiyin — Cape Verde and Zambia bowed out of the African Nations Cup as they played to a 0-0 draw in monsoon-like conditions in Ebebiyin on Monday.

Neither side could find the goal that would have taken them through to the quarter-finals in conditions that made passing near impossible and proved dangerous for the players.

Cape Verde finished level on three points with second-placed DR Congo, but scored a goal less in their three pool games to ensure there  would be no repeat of their quarter-final heroics of 2013.

Zambia ended bottom of the pool with two points and will rue missed opportunities, not just in this game but their first two in the group when they failed to hold on to leads.

Giant puddles on the pitch ensured the flow of the match was disrupted, with Zambian coach Honor Janza saying afterwards it hindered their game-plan, which had centred around speed and quick passing to get around the tight Cape Verde defence.

The teams were largely forced to keep the ball off the ground, which made creating clear-cut chances difficult.

Garry Rodrigues had two shots go narrowly wide for Cape Verde in the first half, while Zambia's Evans Kangwa should have done better with 12 minutes remaining. But he too was off-target.

The final opportunity of the night fell to Mukuka Mulenga of Zambia. He could not steer the ball in and both teams' hopes for the Last 8 ended in a damp squib.

"I'm very sad and disappointed with the result but not with my players. They did all they could," said a tearful Cape Verde coach Rui Aguas.

"We missed a lot of chances in three games but we gave 100 percent, we gave our all."