Cape Verde Leaves FIFA World Cup Mark Despite Falling to Argentina

USA: Cape Verde were knocked out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup 3-2 on Friday by champions Argentina, but the Sharks set a historic record being a debutant and the smallest nation by population to ever qualify for the knockouts.

Cape Verde came from behind twice to equalize against Argentina and forced the world champions to extra time in their round of 32 clash. Disney Borges' own goal in the 111th minute served as the final decider in the match, giving Argentina a 3-2 win.

Despite the elimination, the Sharks enjoyed a remarkable run in their first-ever World Cup appearance, drawing all three matches in the group stage against experienced sides Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.

This allowed them to punch their ticket to the Round of 32, making incredible history on behalf of Africa.

They were massive underdogs against Argentina, who won the tournament in 2022 and stand out as one of the favorites again. Cape Verde didn't lose confidence; instead, they embraced the challenge and went all the way with Argentina before losing narrowly.

Cape Verde with the current population of approximately 530,000 people, wrote said history as the smallest to reach the World Cup knockout stage since the tournament's establishment in 1930.

Before the African nation, Northern Ireland held the record as the smallest country by population to qualify for a FIFA World Cup knockout round. They achieved this in 1958 with a population of approximately 1.4 million people.

Following their elimination from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Cape Verdeans will now turn their attention to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers where they are placed in Group K alongside Mali, Rwanda, and Liberia.