Cape Verde held Uruguay. A nation of 525,000 is two points from the knockouts
4 min readKolkataJun 22, 2026 02:18 PM IST On October 13 last year, the Cape Verde government declared a half-day holiday so the nation could watch their team play Eswatini. Cape Verde won 3-0. They haven’t stopped since. Jose Maria Silva, the national director of state protocol, said qualification for this World Cup was the third defining moment in Cape Verde’s history, after Independence Day and the first multiparty elections of 1991. On Sunday in Miami, they held Uruguay, two-time world champions, to a 2-2 draw. They have not lost a match at this World Cup. They may not be finished. This is a team built from scattered people. Kevin Pina grew up in Praia before his family left for Brockton, Massachusetts, a kid in a diaspora, playing football where he could find it, until a former Cape Verde captain named Carlos Morais spotted him on the street and convinced his father to send him back. Portuguese clubs Casa Pia and Benfica both rejected him. He found his way to Krasnodar in Russia, where in …
