Editorial
Football opened a window to an unknown Nation
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 07-Jul-2026
One is not sure how many people in the world would have known or heard about a country by the name of Cabo Verde prior to the commencement of the FIFA World Cup 2026. But beginning with the night the former Portuguese colony created history by holding Spain, one of the football giants of Europe to a 0-0 draw, the world took note of this island nation as never before. Factually, Cabo Verde was the second smallest country to have made it to the FIFA World Cup 2026, entering the tournament as the 67th-ranked country in the world. According to the United Nations country reports released in 2023, Cabo Verde is an archipelago with ten islands in the Atlantic Ocean, of which 9 are inhabited. It has a total area of 4,033 square km and a population of 491,233 (INE 2021).
This island nation captured the attention of the football world when their 40-year-old keeper, Vozinha (Josima Jose Evora Dias), won the hearts of football enthusiasts with his spectacular performance, preventing several goals against Spain, drawing with Uruguay (2-2), and forcing another draw with Saudi Arabia (0-0), ultimately advancing to the next round as the second best in their group. In the round of 32, they went behind 0-1 against the reigning champion Argentina but came back to equalize 1-1 until the latter scripted an end to their fairy tale-like journey in the FIFA 2026 World Cup with another goal minutes before the 90th minute's close.
Their keeper—the senior most participant in this edition of the World Cup—did not only win hearts with his spectacular performance, denying goals to some of the world’s greatest footballers, but also won the sympathy of people around the world when he was humble enough to admit that he felt sorry that his mother could not see him play live, as the family couldn’t mobilize sufficient funds to pay for her visa. With mighty Argentina halting their dream run in this world, the team returned to their country to a rousing welcome by tens of thousands of elated countrymen in the capital city Praia, which coincided with the 51st Independence Day of the country.
During the reception, jubilant fans transformed the airport's grounds into a carnival of sorts, banging drums, dancing, chanting, and waving the national flag in a show of gratitude to the Blue Sharks, a nickname for the national team. Cabo Verde didn’t advance past the round of 32, but the warm reception they received on the anniversary of their Independence Day, which marked the end of Portuguese colonial rule, was truly heartwarming. One can imagine how much of patriotic sentiments must have been infused into every citizen on that particular Sunday, a day and a celebration that began fifty years ago. The beautiful game, which their national team passionately played, further added a sense of belonging to their country.
In this FIFA World Cup, the smallest country that took part was Curacao, a Caribbean island nation with a population of 156,000. Though Cabo Verde, in comparison, is a much bigger nation with a population of 560,000, these small and tiny nations booking their journey to a prestigious world show as big as the World Cup itself are a huge achievement. The fairy-tale-like journey of Cabo Verde in this edition of the World Cup should serve as a valuable lesson for a large country like India. Numbers alone, after all, do not lead to achievements and recognition; rather, it is commitment, honesty, sincerity, and transparency that do. Do we have them in us? is the million-dollar question.
In a conversation with Rupha Ramani, Sunil Chhetri, former captain of the Indian national football team, said, “India does not lack talent or player commitment to make it to the World Cup. What we lack is a holistic approach to turn India into a sporting nation". How true! Even now, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) is wasting its time, energy, and resources to rename the federation as the Football Federation of Bharat (FFB). The consequences of this unsporting agenda, particularly regarding how the move would adversely impact the already sinking federation, are not difficult to infer. For now, though, we raise our thumbs up in kudos to countries like Cabo Verde for creating a history of sort.