Lionel Messi’s Argentina beat Cape Verde 3-2 on Friday and advanced to the World Cup Round of 16 in a thrilling match in which the tiny island nation challenged the reigning champion until the final minutes of extra time.
Have you read our report about tiny Cape Verde’s stunning rise in football?
The go-ahead score for Argentina was credited as an own-goal after Cristian Romero’s header deflected off Cape Verde’s Diney Borges in the 111th minute. Messi scored early in regulation, his record-extending 20th career World Cup goal. Lisandro Martinez scored in the 103rd to put Argentina ahead 2-1.
Sidny Lopes Cabral and Deroy Duarte scored for Cape Verde — both equalisers that stunned the pro-Argentina crowd in South Florida.
Argentina advanced to face Egypt, which beat Australia in a penalty shootout earlier Friday, in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Cape Verde’s memorable World Cup debut had been a stunning run that few outside the tiny island nation off the western coast of Africa could have predicted.
Behind the stellar play of 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, Cape Verde became the smallest country to reach the knockout round, securing surprising draws against Spain and Uruguay and another against Saudi Arabia.
Vozinha had 10 saves against Argentina, including five against Messi.
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Messi added another brilliant goal to his resume, sneaking behind the Cape Verde defense on a well-timed run as Martinez lofted a pass toward him, taking a quick touch and hammering a finish into the roof of the net past goalkeeper Vozinha for a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute.
The Argentina captain has seven goals in this tournament — one more France’s Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race as the top scorer in this year’s World Cup — and extended his World cup record, moving two goals ahead of Mbappé on the all-time list. He has 12 goals during his record eight-match scoring streak.
Stunning WC debut by Cape Verde
Cape Verde enjoyed one of the most remarkable debut campaigns in World Cup history itself. Representing a nation of just over 500,000 people, the Blue Sharks exceeded expectations by competing fearlessly against some of the world’s strongest teams and becoming one of the tournament’s biggest success stories.
Their campaign began with a stunning 0-0 draw against European champions Spain. Veteran goalkeeper Vozinha produced a series of outstanding saves, while Cape Verde’s disciplined defensive display frustrated one of the pre-tournament favourites and earned global admiration.
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Cape Verde followed that result with an entertaining 2-2 draw against two-time world champions Uruguay, scoring their first-ever FIFA World Cup goals and proving that their opening result was no fluke. They then secured another 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia, finishing strongly enough to reach the knockout stage in their first-ever World Cup appearance. In doing so, they became the smallest nation by population to qualify for the World Cup knockout rounds.
Their historic journey ended with the extra-time defeat to defending champions Argentina. Despite elimination, Cape Verde pushed one of football’s biggest powers to the limit and left the tournament with immense respect from fans and analysts alike.
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