Cape Verde's 2026 FIFA World Cup run comes to an end 

XU ZIJAIN

Lionel Messi of Argentina vies with Diney Borges of Cabo Verde during their round of 32 match at the FIFA World Cup in Miami on July 3. Argentina won 3-2.

Rocky didn’t beat Apollo Creed, but he did go to the final bell. 

And that’s what Cape Verde, a nation whose population of 530,000 is two-thirds that of Charlotte, accomplished against the defending FIFA World Cup champions, Argentina, on a balmy Friday evening in Miami. One of the nine African teams out of 10 in the tournament to make the knockout rounds, Cape Verde has been an independent country since 1975. The uninhabited archipelago off Africa’s west coast was colonized by Portugal in 1456. 

It became a hub of the slave industry until 1864. The largest contributor to the current economy is tourism, which will surely benefit from the global publicity earned by its four-match run in the tournament.

Getting to the World Cup

The Blue Sharks qualified for the World Cup by winning seven of 10 matches in their CAF group, which included heavily favored Cameroon as the Indomitable Lions had the experience of eight previous World Cup appearances. Also in the group were Angola, a 2006 World Cup participant; Libya; Eswatini (previously known as Swaziland until 2018); and Mauritius.

Their only loss was a 4-1 loss to Cameroon, who they defeated 1-0 in the return match. 

Shark attack

Cape Verde announced their intentions for this World Cup on day one by holding pre-tournament favorites Spain, FIFA’s No. 2-rated team, to a 0-0 draw, the first big surprise of the tournament. The Spanish armada outshot the islanders 26-6 but could not breach the net.

The 67th-ranked Cape Verde side then took the lead against No. 16 Uruguay, a two-time World Cup champion, before surrendering two goals just before halftime. They leveled in the 61st minute and held on for another draw. They closed group play with a third tie in a scoreless match with Saudi Arabia, but it was enough to see them through. 

Against the monolith of Argentina, the Blue Sharks chose not to fall back into the defensive posture many may have thought prudent. With nothing to lose, their best defense was their attack, taking 16 shots to the 22 of La Albiceleste.

Lionel Messi did what Lionel Messi does, scoring deftly from close range in the 29th minute. Cape Verde did not crumble and weathered the storm until drawing level in the 59th when team captain Ryan Mendes played Deroy Duarte in from the right to beat Emiliano Martinez inside the far post. 

After forcing the game into extra time, they fell behind again just two minutes in when Lisandro Martinez scored. But at the 103rd minute, Sidny Lopes Cabral, Cape Verde’s youngest player at 24, hit a guided missile from the top left of the penalty area that curved with power into the upper 90 of the far post in what could arguably be the top goal of the tournament so far. 

But this was Argentina, and they stayed the course, eventually winning on a header with nine minutes to play that was redirected into the net off the arm of Cape Verde defender, Diney Borges, who could not be held at fault.

Vozinha

The man who has been the face of their team since his eight-save performance against Spain has been 40-year-old goalkeeper Josimar José Évora Dias, known as Vozinha. Over the past 10 years, he played for clubs in Moldova, Cyprus, Slovakia, and Portugal, most recently for Portuguese second-division side Chaves.

Vozinha’s heroics saw his popularity on Instagram grow from less than 50,000 to 2.7 million that night. A couple of days later, it swelled to 6.7 million. By Friday night after the Argentina game, it ballooned to 19.5 million. That’s 3 million more than the top NFL player, the New York Giants’ Odell Beckham, Jr., and 4 million more than Tom Brady. 

It’s not close to basketball star Lebron James, who has 154 million Instagram followers or Stephen Curry (57 million) but it’s three times more than Victor Webanyama (6.2 million) and would have him in the top five of NBA players.

Who’s moving on

Of the nine teams in the Round of 32, only Morocco and Egypt move on to the Round of 16.

Three of the games went to penalty kicks.

Morocco dismissed the Netherlands on penalty kicks and will face Canada on Saturday in Houston. Egypt also had to survive penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw with Australia on Friday. 

Senegal, which lost 3-2 to the USA in a pre-Cup tune-up on May 31 in Charlotte, was denied a rematch by Belgium. The Lions of Teranga had surged ahead of the Belgians 2-0 and held that until giving up goals in three minutes (86th, 89th). A penalty against them with just three minutes left in extra time gave Belgium the 3-2 win.

Four of the nine CAF teams were eliminated by one-goal margins. South Africa lost to Canada 1-0. Norway downed Ivory Coast, and England bested DR Congo by 2-1 scores. In the final Round of 32 match on Friday night, Colombia beat Ghana 1-0. Algeria lost 2-0 to Switzerland on Thursday.

Round of 16

The Round of 16 games include:

• Morocco vs Canada, July 4 (1 p.m.)

• France vs Paraguay, July 4 (5 p.m.)

•Brazil vs Norway, July 5 (4 p.m.)

• Mexico vs England, July 5 (8 p.m.)

• Portugal vs Spain, July 6 (3 p.m.)

• USA vs Belgium, July 6 (8 p.m.)

• Argentina vs Egypt, July 7 (12 p.m.)

• Switzerland vs Colombia, July 5 (4 p.m.)

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