Cape Verde dazzles Argentina's stars.

The Cape Verde national football team, one of the teams participating for the first time in the World Cup, introduced itself as one of the biggest surprises of the tournament after drawing with former world champions Spain and Uruguay, and nearly knocking out the defending champions Argentina in the Round of 32.

The match that Cape Verde lost 2-3 after extra time could have ended very differently, as Lionel Messi and his teammates felt they had faced a very tough challenge in Miami.

Messi, who scored his seventh goal in the tournament with the opening goal to return to the top of the Golden Boot race, said: “They kept coming back in the match, and it was difficult. It was a real battle.”

Cape Verde, a group of Portuguese-speaking islands off the west coast of Africa, was among four teams making their debut in this expanded version of the tournament featuring 48 teams.

However, while teams like Jordan, Uzbekistan, and Curaçao struggled significantly, Cape Verde stood out from its first match, earning a deserved goalless draw with Spain and qualifying for the knockout stages in second place without needing a best third-place card.

The team nicknamed the "Blue Sharks" proved that criticisms suggesting the participation of smaller teams would affect the quality of the tournament are unfounded.

Argentinian defender Lisandro Martínez, who scored the go-ahead goal 2-1 in extra time, said in statements to "FIFA": “Most of the players were suffering from cramps due to the difficulty of the match.”

Enzo Fernández added: “We suffered a lot in this match; it was a very tough encounter and became a grueling battle.”

The world champions did not hide their appreciation for the level of difficulty they faced, especially after Cape Verde surprised Argentina by equalizing 1-1 through Deroy Duarte in the sixtieth minute.

The team, which includes players active in less renowned leagues, equalized again in extra time through Sidney Lopez Cabral, and only lost due to an own goal from Dini Borges in the 111th minute.

Vozinha, the Cape Verdean goalkeeper, said: “Our team gave everything it had to win this match.” The 40-year-old goalkeeper became one of the standout stories of the tournament after his impressive performance against Spain and his tears on the field, which led "FIFA" to bring his mother to the tournament.

Pico Lopez, born in Ireland, who joined the Cape Verde national team after initially ignoring messages on "LinkedIn," concluded his remarks by saying: “No one needs to ask where Cape Verde is now.”