Cape Verde has made history at the World Cup. This small African island nation, with a population of around 525,000, has reached the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time, advancing to the last 32. Cape Verde will now face defending champions Argentina.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a goalless draw with Saudi Arabia in the final match of Group H, Cape Verde players watched the final moments of the match between Spain and Uruguay on their mobile phones on the pitch. Spain defeated Uruguay, confirming Cape Verde’s qualification to the knockout stage as group runners-up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tears of joy flowed from both the pitch and the stands.\u00a0Cape Verde performed well in the tournament, drawing 0-0 with Spain and drawing 2-2 with two-time World Cup winners Uruguay. In the match against Spain, 40-year-old goalkeeper Vojinha saved the team from defeat with a brilliant save.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cape Verde’s success in qualifying for the World Cup, which saw them beat five-time African champions Cameroon, has left many wondering what the secret is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main reason for this success is considered to be the strategy of including players of Cape Verdean origin living abroad in the national team. Of the 26-member World Cup team, 14 players were born abroad. Six of them are from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forward Dillon Livremento, who plays in Portugal’s top division, played a key role in taking the team to the World Cup by scoring the winning goal in the decisive qualifying match against Cameroon. In 2019, Irish-born defender Roberto Lopes was brought into the national team through professional social media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, former winger Bebe, who played for Portugal’s youth teams, was also included in the Cape Verde team at the Africa Cup of Nations.\u00a0According to the team’s defender, Lopes, the Cape Verdean players take to the field with the confidence to compete with the best teams in the world. He said that this success is not a coincidence but the result of a long-term plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The contribution of head coach Buvista to the team’s success is also considered significant. He has been in charge of the team since 2020 and has built a disciplined and organized team.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under his coaching, Cape Verde reached the quarterfinals of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. Cape Verde played a very disciplined game against Spain. The team committed only one foul in the entire match, the fewest fouls committed by a team in a World Cup since 1966.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defender Sidney Lopes Cabral said the team always practices and plays as a unit, and the performances on the field are their identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Head coach Buvista said he was prouder of the team’s identity, unity, and ability to fight than the result. He was named African Coach of the Year 2025 for his team’s achievements at the World Cup. Cape Verde’s next challenge will now be the world champions, Argentina.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Midfielder Deroy Duarte, who was named the best player against Saudi Arabia, said the achievement was like a dream come true. He said he will first celebrate the historic success and then focus on the match against Argentina. He admitted that the match against Argentina will be difficult, but said he will keep the faith until the end because anything is possible in football.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Football analysts have also described Cape Verde’s journey as one of the most inspiring stories of the World Cup, saying that a nation with a small population has challenged the mightiest teams in world football and made it to the knockout stages is a prime example of the opportunities presented by the expansion of the World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cape Verde has made history at the World Cup. This small African island nation, with a population of around 525,000, has reached the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time, advancing to the last 32. Cape Verde will now face defending champions Argentina.\u00a0 After a goalless draw with Saudi Arabia in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":16267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[466,449],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16268,"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16266\/revisions\/16268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16266"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bagmatitimes.com\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=16266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}