Cape Verde through to round of 32, Argentina and Messi await

Cape Verde make history, advance to round of 32

Cape Verde drew 0–0 with Saudi Arabia on Friday night. It was enough. Spain beat Uruguay 2–0 in the other Group H match, and your team finished second in the group, unbeaten, with three draws from three (2) (6) (7).

The Tubarões Azuis are through to the round of 32 at their first World Cup. The smallest nation to ever reach a men's World Cup knockout stage (5).

Goalkeeper Vozinha kept another clean sheet. "It's a great pride for us," he said afterwards (2).

Bubista: 'Nothing is impossible'

Bubista did not hold back. "To us, nothing is impossible," the Cape Verde coach said after qualification was sealed (3). "From the very beginning, we've said that one of the purposes we had was to show our country to the rest of the world" (3).

The team went through Group H without losing a single match, draws against Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia (2) (6).

Argentina and Messi up next on July 3

Argentina await. The round-of-32 match is set for July 3, and it means Lionel Messi against Vozinha (4).

The Argentine press is already framing it that way, Messi versus the Cape Verde goalkeeper who has been one of the surprises of the tournament (4).

Bubista smiled when asked about Messi. "We're going to try to do our best" (3).

Captain Ryan Mendes under investigation in New Zealand

Cape Verde captain Ryan Mendes is under police investigation in New Zealand for an alleged rape of a Brazilian woman on March 27 of this year (1).

The investigation is ongoing. The exact date of the alleged incident was during the Fifa Series international window (1).

Fan-reaktioner

Hundreds of Cape Verde fans stayed inside the stadium in Houston long after the final whistle on Friday, celebrating a moment no one in the country will forget (8).

Back home, the scenes were even bigger. One Reddit thread captured celebrations across the islands, with fans calling this one of the greatest feats in World Cup history. The question already turning over: can Cape Verde really shock Messi and Argentina next?