Argentina beat Cape Verde in the Round of 32 of the FIFA World Cup on Friday, July 3, in Miami. Still, nobody’s talking about Argentina or Messi — football fans are in awe of the feat of the small African nation, a debutant in the World Cup: the fearless Blue Sharks delivered an epic match against the World Cup titleholders.
Much has been discussed about a lack of mental strength among African national teams in the World Cup, and the match between Senegal and Belgium — when the Africans let a 2-0 lead slip, losing 3-2 — reinforced the debate in this edition. But Cape Verde’s coach, Bubista, managed to build a mentally strong team from players far from the most coveted leagues. Bubista didn’t have the strongest players on paper, but he knew that a strong, well-organized, motivated team can outplay a collection of stars — that’s how Cape Verde was able to push Argentina to the limit despite the gap in individual talent.
Cape Verde’s undefeated campaign
While many criticized this year’s World Cup format with 48 teams — alleging it would lower the competition’s level — Cape Verde never succumbed to impostor syndrome. The team demonstrated on the pitch not only that they deserved a place in the tournament, but also that they could play on equal terms against world champion nations (Spain, Uruguay, and Argentina).
They shocked the world with their debut against Spain, one of the favorites to win the World Cup, drawing 0-0. The match turned 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha into a global star. Against Uruguay, they showed that the first match had not been an accident, drawing 2-2. Against Saudi Arabia, another tie (0-0) gave them the right to advance to the next round as the second-best in the group. With just 530,000 inhabitants, they became the smallest nation ever to reach the World Cup knockouts.
Unfortunately for the Blue Sharks, defending champion Argentina was their opponent in the Round of 32. Still, they gave Argentinians their hardest test in years. Messi opened the scoring, but Deroy Duarte equalized for the Blue Sharks. Lisandro Martínez restored Argentina’s lead, but then Sidny Lopes Cabral equalized again for Cape Verde with one of the most beautiful goals of the tournament. The match went to extra time, and Argentinian fans were just praying not to face penalties against an inspired Vozinha, who at one point was literally dribbling past Argentinian players. But in a cruel twist, Cape Verde’s Diney Borges scored an own goal, handing Argentina the win.
The Blue Sharks left their first World Cup undefeated in normal time. And with a new legion of fans around the world.
The mentality behind the feat
Before the historic match of last Friday, left-back Sidny Lopes Cabral (born in Rotterdam) had warned that you can’t get starstruck by Messi: “Honestly, nobody is overwhelmed. If you’re like: ‘Oh, it’s Messi,’ you’re gonna lose your mind. We’re focusing on our plan, our tactics. If Messi touches the ball, you will look at him like: ‘Hey, I’m really playing against Messi.’ But it’s about our game.”
Lopes Cabral really meant it — and scored a masterpiece of a goal to prove his point.
Behind this mentality is Coach Bubista, who built a team by scouting Cape Verde’s global diaspora — blending local talent with players born in Portugal, the Netherlands, and Ireland. Remarkably, one of the players, Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes (born in Ireland), was contacted by the Cape Verdean Football Federation via his LinkedIn profile with a message in Portuguese — assuming it was a scam, he didn’t even bother running it through Google Translate. He only replied to a follow-up in English that arrived nine months later.
Bubista assembled a team that was much stronger than the sum of its individual parts. He taught them to play without fear — and proved that motivation is more important than star status.
“Once you’re on the pitch, a lot of things become equal,” Bubista explained following the draw with Uruguay. “As big as the opponent might be on the world stage, many national teams become equal.”
“We wanted to show that not only in football, but also in other aspects of life… Show that you can achieve great things regardless of your challenges, whether they’re financial or of any other kind,” he added. “Just so long as you have a dream and chase after it.”
Putting Cape Verde on the football map
The type of promotion that the Blue Sharks achieved for their country would hardly be earned by a marketing campaign, no matter the money they poured in. Football fans now not only know what Cape Verde is and where it is — 600km off the west coast of Africa — but also feel connected to it.
Cape Verde’s national team gave people all over the world a reason to care. Many fans say they want to visit the country soon. Even if just a small percentage of them stick to their word, it will still be a significant influx of tourists for the small archipelago.
“From the very beginning, we said we had the opportunity to show our country to the rest of the world. It’s excellent for our country.”
The value of experience
Unknown before the match against Spain, goalkeeper Vozinha became one of the most recognizable faces of this tournament. His impressive clean sheet against Spain and saves against Messi might well earn him a statue in his home country. He started the tournament valued at just USD 50,000, playing for a second-division club in Portugal, with no new contract in sight, and teaching beach volleyball as a side gig every summer.
‘Vozinha,’ meaning ‘little granny’ in Portuguese, is a nickname — the goalkeeper’s real name is Josimar José Évora Dias. He earned it as a boy: raised by his grandparents, he’d run to his grandmother for protection whenever older boys teased him during football matches, so they started calling him Vozinha.
Vozinha had to grind through years of amateur football and turned professional at 25. Many football fans now say that, had Vozinha been given a chance at a top club earlier in his career, he would have been one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. Instead, he spent his career in Slovakia, Cyprus, Moldova, Angola, and Cape Verde.
During the 2026 World Cup, Vozinha showed that, in many roles, experience counts more than anything else. And as long as one is prepared, it’s not too late. Maybe that one professional without any big-name former employer is ready to shine.
While it’s uncertain whether Vozinha will land a contract with a top-tier team — due to his age — he is already reaping the fruits of his impressive World Cup campaign. He is now the most-followed goalkeeper on Instagram with 28 million followers, surpassing idols like Iker Casillas (20 million), and is set to land contracts with top-tier sports brands in the coming months.
What tech teams can learn from the Blue Sharks
Cape Verde’s run holds a lesson for anyone building a team — in football or in tech.
Coach Bubista didn’t have access to superstar talent or the biggest budgets, but he still managed to outperform teams with big stars. For instance, Uruguay, which featured Real Madrid’s Valverde, failed to advance from the same group.
Part of how he pulled it off: Bubista broadened his talent pool beyond national borders, scouting Cape Verde’s diaspora across Portugal, the Netherlands, and Ireland — a reminder that the best hire for the role isn’t always the one already sitting in your local pipeline. He also made the federation proactively reach out to players who were not looking for an opportunity.
But a wider pool only works if what you build with it holds together. Again, a great team isn’t necessarily the one with the most star names on the roster. Alignment, commitment, shared purpose and — last but not least — motivation often matter more than individual talent. The tech industry is full of teams stacked with individual brilliance that still underperform, and lean teams that consistently punch above their weight because of culture and cohesion.
Vozinha’s story adds a second lesson: experience matters, and resilience is a talent. He spent a decade in modest leagues, working side jobs to get by, before his defining moment arrived at 40. Hiring managers chasing flashy résumés might be overlooking their own Vozinhas: battle-tested people who just haven’t had the right stage yet.
Small island, big dreams
As Zlatan Ibrahimović put it on Fox Sports, nobody is talking about Argentina after the match: “Argentina is not even celebrating. Because this is not about Argentina or Messi. This is about Cape Verde.”
“Small island, big dreams,” the former footballer summarized. “These guys are heroes.”
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