The Beginning of Mission Impossible

Coming into this World Cup, not many people expected much from Cabo Verde and, to be honest, I was one of them. With Cabo Verde being drawn in a group that contained two previous World Cup winners and the current champions of the previous Euros tournament, alongside Saudi Arabia, who are one of only two teams to have beaten Argentina in a competitive fixture since the previous World Cup, plus the fact that this was Cabo Verde's World Cup debut while being a tiny island nation with a population of less than a million, all the cards were stacked against them as they began their campaign against Spain, who were ranked #2 in the FIFA World Ranking at the time (Spain is currently ranked #3 as of 04/07/2026), while Cabo Verde were ranked #67 (Cabo Verde are currently #64 as of 04/07/2026).

Most people expected this to be a simple victory for Spain; however, things played out differently as, despite all of Spain's attempts, they were held to a 0-0 draw. When we look at the data from that match, Spain dominated in almost every attacking metric, with Spain having 65.7% possession, with 40% of that possession being in the final third, which allowed Spain to have a total of 27 attempts on goal, with seven of those shots being on target and generating 2.26 xG. However, Vozinha stepped up and delivered a legacy performance, saving all the shots that he had to face while having a total of 90 involvements during the game and completing 25 line-breaking passes. But still, most people just thought that would be a one-off result, with Cabo Verde having spent 78% of their out-of-possession phase in a mid or low block against Spain.

Defying Expectations in the Group Stage

So, in the next match against Uruguay, surely it would be a course correction for Cabo Verde, right? No, because again Cabo Verde actually got the action rolling by scoring the first goal from a free kick by Kevin Pina to put themselves ahead against the two-time World Champions, Uruguay. From there, maybe too much excitement caused Cabo Verde to allow their lead to slip, firstly by allowing Maxi Araújo to score a header from a rebound off the post and then by a brilliant ball into the box by Manuel Ugarte, which was headed across the box by Maxi Araújo for Agustín Canobbio to get a tap-in.

Most people would have expected Uruguay to go on and win the game from there; however, Cabo Verde refused to go down without a fight. Coming out in the second half, and with Bubista making the changes needed, Cabo Verde were able to draw level again by applying pressure and capitalising on a mistake made by Uruguay to get their second goal of the night through Hélio Varela, allowing Cabo Verde to secure another draw in the World Cup and remain unbeaten heading into their final game against Saudi Arabia.

To be fair, this match was probably Cabo Verde's most equal match-up of the tournament so far (at least on paper), and the numbers reflect that, as Cabo Verde actually controlled more possession at 48% to Saudi Arabia's 41.9%, while having 15 attempts on goal and generating 1.37 xG to Saudi Arabia's seven attempts on goal that generated 0.35 xG. Ultimately, the match ended in a draw, allowing Cabo Verde to finish second in their group and automatically qualify for the Round of 32, where they would face their biggest challenge so far by coming up against the reigning World Cup and Copa América champions, Argentina.

The Ultimate Test: Argentina Await

Coming into this match, most people expected Cabo Verde to be humbled by Argentina and for the fairy tale to come to an end and, despite Argentina winning the match, it proved to be their hardest challenge so far. In the first half, Messi scored to continue his fantastic form in this tournament, but in the second half, Deroy Duarte would go on to score from a tight angle to give Cabo Verde the goal needed to send the game into extra time, where Argentina would put the game to bed. Firstly, Lisandro Martínez's goal put them ahead and then an own goal from Diney Borges would secure the win for Argentina. Even then, Cabo Verde still gave us what might go down as the goal of the tournament when Sidny Lopes Cabral scored that magnificent curler to make it 2-2 in extra time and gave us the wholesome moment of him celebrating with his girlfriend/wife in the crowd.

How the Underdogs Made It Work

This Cabo Verde team, despite being knocked out in the Round of 32, managed to capture the hearts of many around the world, overperforming both their xG of 2.56 to score four goals and their xG against of 7.57 to concede only five goals. Cabo Verde pulled this off by doing what you'd mostly expect of underdog teams, which was not really pressing high to avoid leaving spaces in behind for opponents to play into but rather settling into a mid-to-low block, which would draw teams higher and leave space in behind for Cabo Verde to attack.

To support this, I've been looking into the FIFA Training Center post-match data and, from the four matches Cabo Verde played at this tournament, when you look at their out-of-possession data, they spent an average of 62.25% of their defensive phase in a mid-to-low block, with their ball recovery time averaging around 19.11 seconds. In possession, they spent 19.25% of their attacking phase in attacking transitions.

How Cabo Verde Inspired the World

Honestly, I believe what made this team so special was the constant overperformance of not only the data but also the expectations of the people watching the World Cup. You have Vozinha, who is 40 years old and came out of retirement to help Cabo Verde at the World Cup and produced consistent world-class performances against the likes of Spain and Argentina. You have players like Pico Lopes, who got recruited to the national team via LinkedIn. Even the last goal scored by Cabo Verde feels like the goal of the tournament and provided us with that wholesome moment.

Long story short, Cabo Verde felt special and dear to so many of us because, ultimately, everybody loves an underdog story, and Cabo Verde, on paper at least, felt like a group of misfits but played like the veterans that belonged there and inspired not only their nation, not only the continent of Africa, but millions, maybe even billions, of people around the world. Showing us that even when all the odds are stacked against you, all you have to do is ignore them and perform to the absolute best of your abilities.

Image Credits

• Image: FIFA via X.
• Tournament and performance data: FIFA Training Center and Sofascore.