The World Cup often throws up surprise results. One of the biggest surprise results of the tournament so far is debutants Cabo Verde holding European champions Spain to a goalless draw.
Produced a dogged display
Cabo Verde were expected to be the whipping boys of Group H. The nation with a population of just 500,000 people and the smallest by land mass to ever qualify for the World Cup.
The West African team produced one of the most dogged performances seen at a World Cup. When the team’s defence was beaten, their veteran goalkeeper, Vozinha, was on hand to make a plethora of saves to keep the score level.
The 40-year-old stopper put in a man-of-the-match performance, repelling attack after attack on his goal.
The goalkeeper, who is a free agent after leaving the Portuguese second-tier team Chaves on June 1st, did his chances of extending his professional career no harm with his display.
He went from virtually unknown to a media sensation, and now has 5.8m followers on Instagram alone. His performance is likely to live long in the memory.
Star Cape Verdean goalkeeper Vozinha and his mother will be reunited in Miami in time for the match on Sunday.
Thank you to Secretary Rubio, U.S. State Department officials, the government of Cabo Verde and FIFA for working together to make this happen. pic.twitter.com/JaWpSQuzb2
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) June 17, 2026
After the game, he revealed that his mother couldn’t get a visa to come and watch him play because they couldn’t afford it. However, US officials have now decided to waive the fee so she can travel to watch her son in Cabo Verde’s second group game.
Spain need to improve to lift the trophy
It would be unfair to take any credit away from Cabo Verde, but from a competition-winning point of view, Spain has to improve quickly if they are to live up to their reputation as one of the tournament’s favourites.
They left Barcelona’s starlet Lamine Yamal on the substitutes bench for this encounter. However, the youngster came off the bench and was unable to produce anything of note.
He has just recovered from injury, so his omission from the starting line-up is understandable. The fact that this was supposed to be a game Spain comfortably won was also likely on the mind of the Spain boss, Luis de la Fuente.
The draw is unlikely to harm Spain’s chances of making the knockout rounds. In fact, it may well act as a wake-up call to the players that they can’t be complacent heading into any game this summer.