As the final whistle blew and Argentina’s players celebrated their dramatic 3-2 victory, one of the most emotional moments of the 2026 FIFA World Cup was unfolding on the other side of the pitch.Cape Verde striker Nuno Da Costa stood in tears, surrounded by equally emotional family members. Yet amid his own heartbreak after his country’s historic World Cup run ended, Da Costa was seen being comforted by his young son, who was also in tears.Watch:The scene perfectly described the extraordinary journey of the Cape Verde Islands. The tiny island nation of just over 500,000 pushed defending champions Argentina to the brink in a thrilling last-32 clash before eventually losing 3-2 after extra time.Lionel Messi, who scored his record 20th World Cup goal, admitted Argentina were forced to dig deep to survive.“As this team has shown many times and as I have said many times, it competes,” Messi said in Spanish. – And we competed until the end.Few have given Cape Verde a chance to participate in the tournament. However, the World Cup debutants stunned the football world by becoming the smallest nation ever to reach the knockout stages, drawing former champions Spain and Uruguay before playing one of the tournament’s games against Argentina.Cape Verde equalized twice, once in regulation and again in extra time, and looked capable of producing one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history before an own goal finally ended their dream.“I have to give credit to our opponents,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “It is true that when people say that there is no easy opponent, today (Cabo Verde) proved that they are a great team.”Goalkeeper Vozinha again recorded a series of outstanding saves, while head coach Bubista praised the courage and identity of his players.“We respect with dignity what our country is. We drew twice against the world champions, we took it to extra time,” said Bubista. “More than anything, we are proud of our players who were dignified at the World Cup. We showed our identity.”Defender Pico Lopes echoed that opinion.“We were so close, we pushed them all the way,” he said. “But in the end it wasn’t like that. Disappointed… but I think today we showed great character, great quality to come back into the game twice. They are world champions for a reason.”As Cape Verde’s players remained on the pitch long after the final whistle, hugged through tears, Bubista summed up what his team had achieved.“We showed that we may be a small country,” he said, “but we can play against some of the best teams in the world.”
