{"id":34253,"date":"2026-07-03T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=34253"},"modified":"2026-07-03T12:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T11:38:25","slug":"cape-verde-face-argentina-in-historic-world-cup-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/cape-verde-face-argentina-in-historic-world-cup-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Verde Face Argentina in Historic World Cup Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MIAMI (FN) \u2014 A classic David versus Goliath encounter will take center stage at the World Cup on Friday as tiny Cape Verde face defending champions Argentina with a place in the last 16 at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cape Verde, the smallest nation ever to reach the knockout rounds, have become one of the fairytale stories of this year\u2019s expanded 48-team tournament. The Atlantic archipelago confounded expectations by earning a draw with Spain before squeezing into the last 32 ahead of Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Argentina, led by captain Lionel Messi, breezed through the group stage with six goals from the eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner. The South American giants are widely expected to advance, but Cape Verde insist they will not be overawed by the occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are calm because we earned our place here on merit and there is nothing to fear,\u201d Cape Verde coach Bubista said. \u201cIt is the match of our lives, but we are going to enjoy it and give our best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"474\" height=\"266\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/th.webp?fit=474%2C266&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34257\" style=\"width:866px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/th.webp?w=474 474w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/th.webp?resize=300%2C168 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Midfielder Deroy Duarte echoed the sentiment, saying the team relishes the chance to make history. \u201cEverything is an honour and a reward. We see Argentina as another chance to make history. So why not? We will give everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, marking his 100th game in charge, said his team will not underestimate their opponents. \u201cCape Verde are not here by accident,\u201d Scaloni noted, pointing to their unbeaten record in the group stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The match in Miami is expected to draw global attention, symbolizing both the dominance of football\u2019s traditional powers and the rise of smaller nations in the expanded World Cup format. For Cape Verde, advancing past Argentina would rank among the greatest upsets in tournament history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MIAMI (FN) \u2014 A classic David versus Goliath encounter will take center stage at the World Cup on Friday as tiny Cape Verde face defending champions Argentina with a place in the last 16 at stake. Cape Verde, the smallest nation ever to reach the knockout rounds, have become one of the fairytale stories of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":34256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4,5,7],"tags":[2118,19360,20511,20510,17196,20334,18717,19366,20514],"class_list":["post-34253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured","category-international","category-sports","tag-african-football","tag-argentina","tag-bubista","tag-cape-verde","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026","tag-knockout-stage","tag-lionel-messi","tag-lionel-scaloni","tag-world-cup-fairytale"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-69.webp?fit=1200%2C900","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34253"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34273,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34253\/revisions\/34273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}