The debutant tournament completed the group stage without defeat and is preparing to play against Argentina.
Kazkova's promotion of the Cape Verdean national team at the first world championship will continue. After the naught from Saudi Arabia, Houston, an island power on the coast of Africa, officially became the country's smallest population (525,000 people), as if.
“We are small, but we have great hearts, and we are fighters,” said the 40-year goalkeeper of the national team of Vozinya, who has become a part of his nation’s commitment.
The Black Sharks created one of the biggest sensations in the history of the tournament. They launched their performances with a zero draw against the favorites of Zmagan - the national team of Spain. Then they scored their first goals, winning 2:2 with domestic champions Uruguay, and finishing the group with another draw against the Saudi Arabian team..
Three points allowed them to take another place in Group H, giving up the loss to the Spaniards and ahead of Uruguay by one point. The parallel defeat of the Uruguayans against Spain (0:1) meant their pre-Russian victory against the Saudis.
Cape Verde has already surpassed other small countries, such as Curacao and Iceland, which were eliminated after the group stage (in 2026 and 2018 respectively). Voni became: First debutants in the playoffs from Slovakia in 2010. The first newcomers without defeats in the group after Senegal in 2002.
Varto notes that three teams have already finished in the playoffs (Wales in 1958, Ireland and the Netherlands in 1990, Chile in 1998), although, for example, New Zealand in 2010.
A small part of this success was the phenomenal performance of goalkeeper Vozinya. His fantastic performances brought him over 16 million new followers on Instagram.
In the match against Saudi Arabia, he made three key saves: stopping Mohamed Kanno's careless header at the half-time mark, parrying Mohammed Abu Al-Shamat's shot in the 66th half and turning the team around.
" Perhaps, who cares a lot about you, that the native of Cape Verde is not good enough. “We came here to show that we have a lot of goodies, we are here to get rich, and our citizens can be rich in great fortunes, in great leagues,” Vozinya said in a chant.
From a luxurious suite in the stadium, her mother, Ana Candida Evora, was guarding her son, waving a Cape Verdean ensign.. Vona missed her epic match against Spain (she made 7 saves) due to visa problems.
The game itself could have ended with the defeat of Cape Verde. Kevin Pina shot just above the crossbar from afar, Laros Duarte failed to beat the goalkeeper in the center of the penalty kick, and Nuno da Costa hit the left post in the remaining second of the match. Against these spoiled chances, the chances have quickly faded.
A couple of minutes after the final whistle, when it became known about Spain's victory over Uruguay, Cape Verdean residents and fans burst into tears of joy.
The head coach of the Bubista team, lit up at the national ensign, without showing his pride:.
" We are writing to you that we have reached this stage.
We were shown that my little country is, and we are fighting for what we want to achieve. I have already said that it is too early for Cape Verde to reach such a stage. It’s really, really important to make such forecasts, but I already knew this.”.
The dream of these outsiders has become a reality. Now the greats are preparing for a new test: the 1/16 final match against the world champions - the Argentine national team - will take place on 4 days at the stadium in Miami Gardens (Florida). Kazka prodovzhuvatisya.