Cape Verde break record as smallest nation to reach World Cup knockouts

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 on Friday night to advance in the tournament.

Keeping goal for Cape Verde throughout has been Vozinha, 40, who has embodied the grit of his nation.

“We are small, but we have big hearts and we are fighters,” said the goalkeeper, who last season played for Chaves in Portugal’s second tier.

The island nation off the western coast of Africa, which is making its debut on football’s grandest stage, already held 2010 champion Spain to a 0-0 draw – a shock in itself to begin their campaign.

They then came from behind to get a 2-2 result against Uruguay – the winners of the inaugural World Cup in 1930.

“The team was very eager to show this to the whole world,” Cape Verde coach Bubista said while draped in his country’s flag after the Saudi Arabia game.

“We 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.”

Cape Verde’s three points put the team in second place behind Spain, which beat Uruguay on Friday night and won the group.

Cape Verde will play reigning World Cup champion Argentina in Miami on July 3.

Drawing all three group matches doesn’t 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.

On the eve of the match, Bubista mused, “Everyone is entitled to dream and nothing is impossible.”

The Blue Sharks proved him right, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds as this country of just  530,000 reached the round of 32.

A woman, her face painted with a flag of the archipelago, held a sign that read: “Small Islands, Big Dreams,” a dream that these underdogs have made reality as they continue their charmed run on the world stage.

They did it with another strong game from Vozinha, whose tournament success has helped him amass more than 16 million Instagram followers.

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.

A third came in the 92nd minute when he stopped a shot by Abdullah al-Hamdan.

“There is a lot of quality in our national team,” Vozinha said. “Maybe 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.”

A group of shirtless men in the crowd each painted one letter of his name on their chests as they cheered Cape Verde.

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’s epic seven-save performance against Spain because of visa issues.

Cape Verde had a chance to score in the 50th minute, but Kevin Pina’s shot from distance was just above the crossbar. Another chance came in the 74th minute when Laros Duarte’s shot from the middle of the box was stopped by goalkeeper Mohammed al-Owais.

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.

But it didn’t 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’s players and fans, many of whom cried as they rejoiced.

Having led his squad to new heights, Bubista was asked if he could have imagined such a run entering the tournament.

“I’ve always said that sooner or later Cape Verde would be on such a stage,” he said. “Of course, it’s hard to have such a forecast, but I always knew.”

Saudi Arabia were eliminated after finishing with two points in the group stage.

“We were very poor in terms of creating things, controlling the game and creating actions,” coach Georgios Donis said. “And one cannot win a game this way. It would be very difficult.”