{"id":7535,"date":"2026-06-27T16:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/cape-verde-break-record-as-smallest-nation-to-reach-world-cup-knockouts\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T16:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:35:22","slug":"cape-verde-break-record-as-smallest-nation-to-reach-world-cup-knockouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/cape-verde-break-record-as-smallest-nation-to-reach-world-cup-knockouts\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Verde break record as smallest nation to reach World Cup knockouts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Tiny Cape Verde have become the history makers of World Cup 2026 by defying all odds to become the smallest country to earn a spot in the knockout stages of the competition.<\/p>\n<p>Their improbable run through the group stage, with a third straight World Cup draw, was completed with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/27\/cape-verde-qualify-for-world-cup-round-of-32-set-up-date-with-argentina\">a 0-0 draw<\/a> against Saudi Arabia on Friday night to advance in the tournament.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/27\/belgium-new-zealand-fifa-world-cup-2026-trossard-lukaku-de-bruyne-saelemaekers\">Trossard brace guides Belgium to World Cup knockouts as New Zealand exit<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/27\/which-teams-have-qualified-for-the-world-cup-2026-knockouts-round-of-32\">World Cup knockouts: Who has made it to the round of 32 stage?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/27\/which-teams-are-in-the-world-cup-round-of-32-and-whats-the-schedule\">Which teams are in the World Cup round of 32, and what\u2019s the schedule?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/27\/iran-wait-on-world-cup-progress-after-late-goal-disallowed-in-egypt-draw\">Iran wait on World Cup progress after late goal disallowed in Egypt draw<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Keeping goal for Cape Verde throughout has been Vozinha, 40, who has embodied the grit of his nation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are small, but we have big hearts and we are fighters,\u201d said the goalkeeper, who last season played for Chaves in Portugal\u2019s second tier.<\/p>\n<p>The island nation off the western coast of Africa, which is making its debut on football\u2019s grandest stage, already held 2010 champion Spain to a 0-0 draw \u2013 a shock in itself to begin their campaign.<\/p>\n<p>They then came from behind to get a 2-2 result against Uruguay \u2013 the winners of the inaugural World Cup in 1930.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe team was very eager to show this to the whole world,\u201d Cape Verde coach Bubista said while draped in his country\u2019s flag after the Saudi Arabia game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are proud of having arrived at this stage. We have shown that we are a small country, but that we fight for the things that we want to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cape Verde\u2019s three points put the team in second place behind Spain, which beat Uruguay on Friday night and won the group.<\/p>\n<p>Cape Verde will play reigning World Cup champion Argentina in Miami on July 3.<\/p>\n<p>Drawing all three group matches doesn\u2019t guarantee advancement at major football tournaments, but several teams have done it in the past. Those include: Wales in 1958, Ireland and the Netherlands in 1990, and Chile in 1998. New Zealand, however, also got three draws at the 2010 World Cup and were eliminated.<\/p>\n<p>On the eve of the match, Bubista mused, \u201cEveryone is entitled to dream and nothing is impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Sharks proved him right, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds as this country of just\u00a0 530,000 reached the round of 32.<\/p>\n<p>A woman, her face painted with a flag of the archipelago, held a sign that read: \u201cSmall Islands, Big Dreams,\u201d a dream that these underdogs have made reality as they continue their charmed run on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p>They did it with another strong game from Vozinha, whose tournament success has helped him amass more than 16 million Instagram followers.<\/p>\n<p>He had a save in first-half stoppage time, grabbing a header from Mohamed Kanno to keep Saudi Arabia scoreless. Another save came in the 66th minute when he leaped to deflect a shot from Mohammed Abu al-Shamat.<\/p>\n<p>A third came in the 92nd minute when he stopped a shot by Abdullah al-Hamdan.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4708647\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4708647\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-27T023745Z_1082554967_UP1EM6R066WS2_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-WORLDCUP-CPV-SAU-1782566932.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C515&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"Cape Verde players and staff celebrate after the Saudi Arabia match match as Cape Verde qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4708647\">Cape Verde players and staff celebrate after the Saudi Arabia match [Phil Noble\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThere is a lot of quality in our national team,\u201d Vozinha said. \u201cMaybe for many of you, you think the Cape Verdean player is not good enough. But we came here to show that we have a lot of quality and we are here to compete and our players can play everywhere in the big competition, in the big leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A group of shirtless men in the crowd each painted one letter of his name on their chests as they cheered Cape Verde.<\/p>\n<p>But Vozinha had a much bigger fan among the crowd of 68,278 as his mother Ana Candida Evora watched from a luxury suite, waving a tiny Cape Verde flag. It was her second match of the tournament after missing Vozinha\u2019s epic seven-save performance against Spain because of visa issues.<\/p>\n<p>Cape Verde had a chance to score in the 50th minute, but Kevin Pina\u2019s shot from distance was just above the crossbar. Another chance came in the 74th minute when Laros Duarte\u2019s shot from the middle of the box was stopped by goalkeeper Mohammed al-Owais.<\/p>\n<p>A last chance to score came in the final seconds when Nuno da Costa sent a shot from the middle of the box wide left.<\/p>\n<p>But it didn\u2019t matter because a couple of minutes after the final whistle, Spain completed its victory over Uruguay and set off a joyous celebration among Cape Verde\u2019s players and fans, many of whom cried as they rejoiced.<\/p>\n<p>Having led his squad to new heights, Bubista was asked if he could have imagined such a run entering the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always said that sooner or later Cape Verde would be on such a stage,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course, it\u2019s hard to have such a forecast, but I always knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Saudi Arabia were eliminated after finishing with two points in the group stage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were very poor in terms of creating things, controlling the game and creating actions,\u201d coach Georgios Donis said. \u201cAnd one cannot win a game this way. It would be very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tiny Cape Verde have become the history makers of World Cup 2026 by defying all odds to become the smallest country to earn a spot in the knockout stages of the competition. Their improbable run through the group stage, with a third straight World Cup draw, was completed with a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia &#8230; <a title=\"Cape Verde break record as smallest nation to reach World Cup knockouts\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/cape-verde-break-record-as-smallest-nation-to-reach-world-cup-knockouts\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Cape Verde break record as smallest nation to reach World Cup knockouts\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}