Cape Verde, with a population of 5 lakhs, has created history. He has made it to the Round of 32 of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Cape Verde continued its golden campaign with a goalless draw against Saudi Arabia on Friday (26 June) and became the smallest country to reach the knockout rounds of the Football World Cup. Cape Verde drew all three of its matches in Group H, which enabled it to advance by finishing second behind Spain. In this group, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia could score only two points each and were out of the tournament.
Cape Verde, a small island nation off the west coast of Africa, is playing on football’s biggest stage for the first time. They held 2010 champions Spain to a goalless draw in their first match and then came back from behind against Uruguay to level the match 2–2. This is a dream come true for Cape Verde. They will face defending champions Argentina in the ‘Round of 32’ on July 3 in Miami.
In the World Cup, drawing all three group matches does not guarantee progress to the next round, but several teams have done so in the past, including Wales in 1958, Ireland and Netherlands in 1990, and Chile in 1998. New Zealand also drew all three matches in the 2010 World Cup but was eliminated from the tournament.
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Wojinha did wonders again
Cape Verde achieved this feat thanks again to the brilliant play of 40-year-old goalkeeper Vojinha, whose success in the tournament has earned him more than 16 million followers on Instagram. In the stoppage time of the first half, he did not allow Saudi Arabia to take the lead by stopping Mohammad Kanno’s header. After this, in the 66th minute, he also brilliantly blocked the shot of Mohammed Abu Al Shamat. He also stopped Abdullah Al Hamdan’s shot from goal in injury time of the second half, allowing Cape Verde to qualify for the next round.
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Uruguay out of group stage
Spain entered the World Cup knockout stage by defeating Uruguay 1-0 and eliminating the South American giants from the tournament. Two-time champion Uruguay team could not win a single match in Group-H. European champions Spain finished first in the group with seven points and will face the second-placed team (Austria or Algeria) from Group J in the next round on Thursday in Inglewood, California.
Alex Baena scored a goal for Spain in the 42nd minute. Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera failed to stop Baena’s shot from inside the penalty area, even though it did not look difficult. This was 40-year-old Muslera’s third mistake in the tournament, after which coach Marcelo Bielsa dropped him at half-time. Uruguay, ranked 19th in the FIFA rankings, is the highest-ranked team to exit the tournament so far.
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