{"id":2362,"date":"2026-06-27T07:33:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T07:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362"},"modified":"2026-06-27T07:33:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T07:33:41","slug":"cape-verdes-dream-run-continues-becoming-smallest-country-into-world-cup-knockout-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362","title":{"rendered":"Cape Verde’s dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Tiny Cape Verde defied odds to become the smallest country to earn a spot in the World Cup knockout round behind the stellar play of Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who embodied the grit of his nation.<\/p>\n

Read more Spain wins its World Cup group, beating Uruguay 1-0 as Muslera\u2019s error sends 2-time champion home<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are small,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we have big hearts and we are fighters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cape Verde completed an improbable run through the group stage with a third straight\u00a0World Cup\u00a0draw, a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia on Friday night to advance in the tournament.<\/p>\n

The small island nation off the western coast of Africa, which is making its debut on soccer\u2019s grandest stage, already\u00a0held 2010 champion Spain to a 0-0 draw\u00a0and then came from behind\u00a0to get a 2-2 result against Uruguay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team was very eager to show this to the whole world,\u201d Cape Verde coach Bubista said while draped in his country’s flag. \u201cWe are proud of having arrived at this stage. We have shown that we are a small country, but that we fight for the things that we want to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cape Verde\u2019s three points put the team in second place behind Spain, which beat Uruguay on Friday night and won the group.<\/p>\n

Cape Verde will play reigning World Cup champion Argentina in Miami on July 3.<\/p>\n

Drawing all three group matches doesn’t guarantee advancement at major soccer tournaments. But several teams have done it in the past, including Wales in 1958, Ireland and the Netherlands in 1990, and Chile in 1998. New Zealand, however, also got three draws at the 2010 World Cup and was eliminated.<\/p>\n

On the eve of the match, Bubista mused, \u201ceveryone is entitled to dream and nothing is impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Sharks proved him right, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds as this country of just more than 500,000 reached the round of 32.<\/p>\n

A woman, her face painted with a flag of the archipelago, held a sign that read: \u201cSmall Islands, Big Dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

A dream that these underdogs have made reality as they continue their charmed run on the world stage.<\/p>\n

They did it with another strong game from Vozinha, whose tournament success has helped\u00a0him amass more than 16 million Instagram followers.<\/p>\n

Read more U.S. strikes Iran to respond to attack on ship that Trump says violated ceasefire<\/a><\/p>\n

He had a save in first half stoppage time, grabbing a header from Mohamed Kanno to keep Saudi Arabia scoreless. Another save came in the 66th minute when he leaped to deflect a shot from Mohammed Abu Al-Shamat.<\/p>\n

A third came in the 92nd minute when he stopped a shot by Abdullah Al-Hamdan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of quality in our national team,\u201d Vozinha said. \u201cMaybe for many of you, you think the Cape Verdean player is not good enough. But we came here to show that we have a lot of quality and we are here to compete and our players can play everywhere in the big competition, in the big leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group of shirtless men in the crowd each painted one letter of his name on their chests as they cheered Cape Verde.<\/p>\n

But Vozinha had a much bigger fan among the crowd of 68,278 as\u00a0his mother Ana Candida Evora\u00a0watched from a luxury suite, waving a tiny Cape Verde flag. It was her second match of the tournament after missing Vozinha\u2019s epic seven-save performance against Spain because of visa issues.<\/p>\n

Cape Verde had a chance to score in the 50th minute, but Kevin Pina’s shot from distance was just above the crossbar. Another chance came in the 74th minute when Laros Duarte\u2019s shot from the middle of the box was stopped by goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais.<\/p>\n

A last chance to score came in the final seconds when Nuno da Costa sent a shot from the middle of the box wide left.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t matter because a couple of minutes after the final whistle, Spain completed its victory over Uruguay and set off a joyous celebration among Cape Verde’s players and fans, many of whom cried as they rejoiced.<\/p>\n

Having led his squad to new heights, Bubista was asked if he could have imagined such a run entering the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said that sooner or later Cape Verde would be on such a stage,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course it\u2019s hard to have such a forecast, but I always knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia was eliminated after finishing with two points in the group stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very poor in terms of creating things, controlling the game and creating actions,\u201d coach Georgios Donis said. \u201cAnd one cannot win a game this way. It would be very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Miami Beach curbs red-light cameras for right turns<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter Cape Verde goalkeeper Josimar \u201cVozinha\u201d Dias broke down in tears because his mother could not attend his historic World Cup debut, she has been approved for a U.S. visa to watch him play in Miami. The reunion follows visa complications tied to a $185 application fee and a returnable bond requirement of $5,000 to $15,000 for some travelers from Cape Verde.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cape Verde defied odds to become the smallest country to earn a spot in the World Cup knockout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"\nCape Verde's dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round - Jacksonville Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cape Verde's dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round - Jacksonville Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cape Verde defied odds to become the smallest country to earn a spot in the World Cup knockout.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jacksonville Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-27T07:33:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bd97a0052a7a1d8119a1fd0b85af888b\"},\"headline\":\"Cape Verde’s dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-27T07:33:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362\"},\"wordCount\":870,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2f59dc349dd95ffff29a2b8e47efa31e.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"2026 World Cup\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362\",\"name\":\"Cape Verde's dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round - Jacksonville Moving News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2f59dc349dd95ffff29a2b8e47efa31e.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-27T07:33:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bd97a0052a7a1d8119a1fd0b85af888b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2f59dc349dd95ffff29a2b8e47efa31e.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2f59dc349dd95ffff29a2b8e47efa31e.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?p=2362#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cape Verde’s dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jacksonville Moving News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bd97a0052a7a1d8119a1fd0b85af888b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cape Verde's dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round - Jacksonville Moving News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cape Verde's dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round - Jacksonville Moving News","og_description":"Cape Verde defied odds to become the smallest country to earn a spot in the World Cup knockout.","og_url":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362","og_site_name":"Jacksonville Moving News","article_published_time":"2026-06-27T07:33:41+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bd97a0052a7a1d8119a1fd0b85af888b"},"headline":"Cape Verde’s dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round","datePublished":"2026-06-27T07:33:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362"},"wordCount":870,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2f59dc349dd95ffff29a2b8e47efa31e.webp","articleSection":["2026 World Cup"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362","url":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362","name":"Cape Verde's dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round - Jacksonville Moving News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2f59dc349dd95ffff29a2b8e47efa31e.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-27T07:33:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bd97a0052a7a1d8119a1fd0b85af888b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2f59dc349dd95ffff29a2b8e47efa31e.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2f59dc349dd95ffff29a2b8e47efa31e.webp","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=2362#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cape Verde’s dream run continues, becoming smallest country into World Cup knockout round"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/","name":"Jacksonville Moving News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bd97a0052a7a1d8119a1fd0b85af888b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com"],"url":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}