World Cup calling Cape Verde's name?

Cape Verde are causing a surprise in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

There are football stories that don’t need superstars, don’t need magnificent stadiums, just faith – something that is overflowing in the Cape Verde archipelago. At 11pm on October 13, when the opening whistle blows in Praia, a small nation in the middle of the Atlantic can write the most brilliant chapter in its history: winning a ticket to the 2026 World Cup.

From the bottom to the sky

“Now I can dream of playing in the World Cup,” the simple words of a boy at the Bola pra frente academy resounded like a prelude to a green epic. That dream, once far-fetched for a country of just over half a million people, is now becoming a breathtaking reality. If Cape Verde defeats Eswatini, they will become the third newcomer to the North American World Cup, after Jordan and Uzbekistan.

Cape Verdean football has had its dark days. Just last year, they finished bottom of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying group – an embarrassment after reaching the quarter-finals of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

But from the ashes, Coach Bubista, a former player who had wandered for Badajoz Club (Spain), revived the team with discipline and belief. He did not have a million-dollar star cast, only a group of working people, brave "shark teeth" in the middle of a fierce ocean.

What is special is that their success bears the mark of their expatriates. In the current squad, there are six players born in the Netherlands, some in France, Portugal, and even Ireland.

The Cape Verde squad has no notable stars.

Centre-back Pico Lopes, for example, learned of his call-up through... a LinkedIn message that ended up in his spam folder. But it is these pieces that make up the global Cape Verde – small in size, but big in spirit.

No country loves its team as dearly as Cape Verde does right now. Before the fateful match, the team went to the Sucupira market in the capital Praia, shaking hands, laughing and receiving congratulations from the people.

No fences, no guards, just faith and love. The scene reminds us of the original football - where players and people share the same heartbeat, dreaming the same dream.

Beer stalls and music stages have sprung up all over the streets. The government has declared today a “special day”, allowing all citizens to take the day off from work until noon to watch football. In a country where most of its people live abroad, the “homeland” has never been so united. Cape Verdeans are living a moment they will never forget.

Small aspirations, big vision

If they win, Cape Verde will become the second-smallest nation in World Cup history, behind Iceland 2018, and the smallest team in terms of territory ever to play at the tournament. An extraordinary feat for a country without a proper professional league, where most players grew up playing on the sea breeze, street football and worn-out balls.

Cape Verde is edging closer to its World Cup dream.

But in today’s globalised football world , Cape Verde is a symbol of what every small team dreams of: the belief that there are no limits to ambition. They have no superstars, no 80,000-seat stadium, but they have a beating heart, a bond of solidarity from every expatriate, and a people who are willing to stop the entire country just to wait for the whistle to blow.

Just three more points, and the sons of the sea will be singing the national anthem at United 2026, standing alongside the world's footballing powers. Whatever the result, Cape Verde has won - in the way they dared to dream, to believe, and to make football the collective dream of a small but proud nation in the heart of the ocean.

Source: https://znews.vn/world-cup-goi-ten-cape-verde-post1593352.html