The legend of Cape Verde: How an island of half a million built the best team at the World Cup

On June 29, two of the most decorated programs in soccer history packed their bags and went home. Germany, a four-time world champion, lost a penalty shootout to Paraguay after a 1-1 draw, missing three spot kicks. Hours later, the Netherlands, a three-time finalist ranked seventh in the world, fell the same way, to Morocco. Both were eliminated in the round of 32, the very first knockout round of the expanded tournament. These were, by all accounts, colossal disappointments. But look at who was still standing. Cape Verde, an island nation of roughly 525,000 people appearing in its first World Cup, had already held former champions Spain and Uruguay to draws, finishing second in its group, unbeaten. They would go on to heroically push defending champion Argentina, the reigning World Cup Champions, to extra time before losing 3-2. Their journey is now over, but their story still deserves to be told.  Cape Verde’s squad was drawn largely from solid professionals scattered across the top flights of smaller and mid-ranking European and Middle Eastern leagues—Portugal, Cyprus, Turkey, Bulgaria and beyond. There were no global superstars, and only a couple of players at genuinely elite clubs like Benfica and Villarreal; most plied
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