Cape Verde forged an unlikely path to this year’s World Cup, earning the nation’s first-ever bid despite being one of the smallest and most remote nations ever to enter the tournament.
Cape Verde kicks off its World Cup journey on Monday against Spain, looking to pull off what would be a monumental upset. But just reaching the World Cup has been a fairytale journey for the island nation.
Cape Verde is Among the Smallest World Cup Nations Ever
Cape Verde is among the smallest nations in Africa, an archipelagic country off the continent’s Atlantic Ocean coast made up of 10 volcanic islands.
As Olympics.com noted, Cape Verde was one of three teams to make their “fairytale” World Cup debut this year, with their qualifying match bringing the nation of a little more than 500,000 to a halt.
“One of four debutants alongside Jordan, Curaçao and Uzbekistan, the West African nation sealed its place on the final day of African qualifying with a 3-0 win over Eswatini in Praia,” the report noted. “The country was effectively half-closed for business, with many given time off to watch a match staged at a national stadium that holds just 8,000 spectators.”
“By global standards it was a modest crowd, but it represented a nation of just over half a million people,” the report added. “Cabo Verde are the third smallest country by population ever to qualify for a World Cup, behind fellow debutants Curaçao, and Iceland, who reached the finals in 2018.”
Cape Verde Has Been on the Rise
As Olympics.com noted, the Cape Verde team has been consistently increasing its stature within Africa, qualifying for four of the past six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and reaching the quarterfinals twice.
Cape Verde reached the World Cup thanks to some strong defense and efficient play through the qualifiers, the report added.
“Their FIFA World Cup qualification campaign was built on efficiency rather than spectacle. Cabo Verde scored 16 goals in 10 matches, the lowest tally among the African teams that qualified, but they made each of them count, with three of their seven victories ending 1-0,” the report noted. “Three of their seven wins came by a single goal.”
Cape Verde’s team is led by Roberto Flores, a former Dublin bank worker who was recruited to play for the island nation. The 33-year-old former League of Ireland player told BBC Sport he was eager to give up the desk job and represent Cape Verde.
“I was not enjoying the work,” Flores said.
Rui Argas, the Cape Verde coach at the time, reached out to Flores on LinkedIn after he learned that Flores’ father was from Cape Verde.
“I thought it was a spam message and I took no notice of it,” Flores told BBC Sport. “And then about nine months later, he messaged me back, saying, ‘Hi Roberto, have you had a chance to consider what I said to you?’ “
Flores said the message was in Portuguese, and he had to translate it first.
“I felt so rude for not having replied to him months earlier,” Flores said. “I copied the message and put it into Google Translate and it basically said, ‘We’re looking at getting new players into the Cape Verde squad and would you be interested in declaring for Cape Verde?’ “
Flores said it was an easy decision.
“I was absolutely buzzing with that,” Flores said. “I was like, ‘Yep, 100% I’d love to be a part of the squad.’ “
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