The island nation are ranked 15th in Africa, while Morocco are 17, Angola 21, and Bafana Bafana 23.
The Cape Verdians beat Cameroon 2-0 at home and lost 2-1 away to make it to the tournament in South Africa.
They then managed a respectible 1-0 loss to Ghana and a 0-0 draw with Nigeria in Afcon warm-up matches, indicating that they will not be the pushover many pundits believe.
This all from a nation with a population of 500,000 – about a third the size of Soweto.
Blue Sharks coach Luis Antunes, who is on long leave from his job as an air traffic controller, says: "I still do not know how we beat Cameroon. It was a dream come true as we have been trying to make the Cup of Nations finals for a long time."
Cape Verde narrowly missed out on the 2012 tournament in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea, coming second in Group A of qualifying. Equal on points with Mali, they lost out on head to head results (just like South Africa).
"We are going to work hard and do our best in the competition. Playing in our first Africa Cup and playing in the first match is good for the players, the coaches and the country," Antunes says.
"All the pressure will be on South Africa in the opening match. We are coming to play good football and if we make the knock-out phase it will be another remarkable achievement."