3 min readJul 5, 2026 11:34 PM IST
First published on: Jul 5, 2026 at 11:14 PM IST
Thousands lined the undulating streets of Cape Verde to greet their titans of the World Cup upon arrival at capital Praia. The Blue Sharks flew in on Sunday, after losing narrowly 2-3 to mighty Argentina.
“It’s a very great moment for us to be here with our people,” the Wonderwall goalie Vozinha, donning cool Gucci big-glares told BBC as blue red striped flags fluttered all around. “We wanted something bigger but we didn’t go to the next stage. Now we just enjoy the moment and celebrate with our people,” he added.
They trooped back in white tee shirts with Cabo Verde engraved in bold font. Cape Verde held Spain and Uruguay to draws. The homecoming was coincidentally the same as their 51st Independence Day, liberating from Portugal.
Ranked 67th, they were massively praised for their clean defense and mighty hearts in the Argentina match, drawing level twice.
Bubista was quoted as saying “We showed that we may be a small country but we can play against the best in the world. That’s reason for pride. We made history.”
Airport ground staff at Nelson Mandela Praia International Airport celebrated by kneeling and bowing to Vozinha & Co. A white long open trailer was repurposed into a tableaux like a long moving stage with blue and red then took the team standing on a parade as drums beat without pause.
Legend Thierry Henry would say “Cabo Verde Obrigado. I don’t care about result. The story was, is and always will be Cabo Verde.”
Cape Verde is made up of 10 islands off the African coast, and first impressed watchers during Africa Cup of Nations. They don’t have a single player in the top flight of any of the 5 Euro leagues, and the goal scorer Cabral in fact played for fifth division in Bundesliga a few years back.
Vozinha is still looking for a club, though he may head west to Brazil, culturally a totem for Cape Verdeans. A postman, a footballer recruited through LinkedIn make up the team that was defensively a dream – no dirty tackles, no ruffian crookedness like Paraguay while playing the attacking best – Spain and Argentina. They even showed up Uruguay, the team that plays nasty often, while emerging as a global favourite.
Vozhinha has spoken about how the world refused to take them seriously – a teammate rejected cruelly by Benfica – at the outset. But soon after the opener with Spain, Cabo Verde became everyone’s favourite – behind their chosen teams ofcourse. The draws earned them respect, but coming back twice from behind to beat Dibu Martinez, and put Messi’s Argentines under the pump left the world floored.
It can be said that the defense didn’t yield till the end, given the third for Argentina was an own goal. It was a team that left nobody that liked football, unaffected and inspired.
Cape Verde's Sidny Lopes Cabral (13) celebrates their second goal during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Argentina and Cape Verde in Miami Gardens, Fla., Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) 
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