Cape Verde’s dream run in the FIFA World Cup 2026 continued as the African nation held two-time champions Uruguay to a 2-2 draw at the Miami Stadium. The Blue Sharks had held tournament contenders Spain to a goalless draw a few days ago and have now boosted their chances of a surprise qualification into the knockouts.ย
Kevin Pina sent the tiny island nation into a frenzy when he scored Cape Verde’s first-ever World Cup goal, before La Celeste struck back with Maxi Araรบjo and Agustin Canobbio scoring late first-half goals to put the inaugural champions ahead 2-1 at the stroke of halftime.ย
But Marcelo Bielsa’s team produced another stunning effort in the second half, right at the stroke of the hour, when Helio Varela scored the equaliser after a bad pass by Mathias Olivera and caught goalie Fernando Muslera way off his line.ย
“This is something we owe to other smaller national teams โ teams that struggled to qualify for a world tournament,” Cape Verde coach Pedro Leitao Brito said through an interpreter, adding that his entire squad believes it can continue its historic play and reach the knockout stage.
How can Cape Verde qualify for knockouts?
The victory has given the island nation a shot in the arm for a World Cup knockout entry as they sit on two points from two matches and in third spot in Group H. They face Saudi Arabia in their last game, while Uruguay will be up against the mighty Spanish side, which routed the Green Falcons to a 4-0 win in their second round match.ย
As per the FIFA rules for this World Cup, the tiebreakers between teams in the same group will be broken by head-to-head record, with the goal difference taking a back seat. The head-to-head result between the teams will take precedence, followed by the goal difference from their head-to-head group matches and then the greater number of goals scored in the head-to-head group games. This will be followed by the goal difference parameter in all group matches.
For Cape Verde, they would need to better Uruguay’s result with Spain when they meet the Saudi side in their last league stage outing. They will qualify if they beat Saudi Arabia in their last game and can even do so with a draw if Uruguay lose to Spain. A loss would make it very tough.
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