As the final whistle blew and Argentina’s players celebrated a dramatic 3-2 victory, one of the most exciting moments of the 2026 FIFA World Cup took place on the other side of the pitch.Cape Verde forward Nuno da Costa stood in tears, surrounded by equally emotional family members. However, da Costa was comforted by his young son who was also crying as he was left heartbroken after his country’s historic World Cup journey.watch:This scene perfectly sums up Cape Verde’s extraordinary journey. The tiny island nation, with a population of just over half a million, pushed defending champion Argentina to the brink in a thrilling round-of-32 clash, eventually losing 3-2 after extra time.Lionel Messi scored his record-breaking 20th goal at the World Cup, admitting Argentina were forced to dig deep to survive.“As this team has proven many times, as I have said many times, it is competitive,” Messi said in Spanish. “We competed to the end.”Few gave Cape Verde a chance at the World Cup. However, the first-time World Cup side shocked the football world by becoming the smallest nation ever to reach the knockout stages, holding former champions Spain and Uruguay to draws before setting up a tie against Argentina.Cape Verde equalized twice, once in regulation time and once in extra time, and looked capable of causing one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, but an own goal ultimately ended their dream.“I have to give credit to our opponents,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “The truth is, when people say there are no easy opponents, today (Cape Verde) proved they are a great team.”Goalkeeper Woznia once again made a series of excellent saves, while coach Bubista praised the players’ courage and identity.“We respect our country. Twice we drew with the world champions and we took the game to overtime,” Bubista said. “The most important thing is that we are proud of the players who performed well at the World Cup. We showed who we are.”Defender Pico Lopez echoed the sentiment.“We were very close and we pushed them to the end,” he said. “But at the end of the day, that wasn’t the case. It’s disappointing… but I thought we showed great character today, great quality to get back into the game twice. They are world champions for a reason. “Cape Verde’s players remained on the pitch after the final whistle, tearfully hugging each other as Bubista summed up his team’s achievement.“We showed that we may be a small country,” he said, “but we can play against some of the best teams in the world.”
