Key events
“The closest here in Ireland we get to the WC,” writes Paul Butler, “is Pico Lopez, Dublin lad, Shamrock Rovers legend. Probably more anxious than I would be watching Ireland. Absolutely brilliant defensive effort. Go on ya beauties. What a result.”
This is one of the joys, isn’t it – the unique, moving and individual stories of all the players involved. He so nearly wasn’t there, after ignoring the recruitment message he received when he didn’t understand the Portuguese in which it was written – but they came back with one in English, and now look! He was amazing tonight, and wherever he is the world, doing whatever he’s doing, for the rest of his life, he’ll carry this game with him.
We’re always going to be chasing Baden-Baden, aren’t we? Someone needs to turn that into a sitcom.
AND THERE’S MORE! Rob Smyth is away with Belgium v Egypt, so join him there – of course while sticking with me here.
I can’t think of many more joyous goalless draws in World Cup history – this may well be in the top one. A rearguard done properly – think Diego Simeone’s Atletico, without the ’housing – is one of the most thrilling aspects the game has to offer us, and this one was an absolute masterclass.
As for Spain, I can’t believe how lethargic they were. They’ll have known what they were going to be up against, and though it’s never easy to break down a massed, disciplined, confident and organised defence, they didn’t seem to have any idea as to have that might be done – save that period just before half-time when cross-kicks, to borrow a term from rugby, went from centre to wide and threatened to unlock the door. I’m sure they’ll improve through the tournament – Argentina, remember, lost to Saudi in their 2022 opener – but that was a very different kind of game in which chances were created and missed.
“As the son of Azorean immigrants watching on from Canada,” says Richard Macedo, “I couldn’t be happier for the Cabo Verde people, their fans and their country. What a moment!”
it’s a beautiful thing. So many cultures, so many influences, unified into a collective and the very best of humanity.
Vozinha is in tears and really, how couldn’t he be? Forty years old, he’s given the display of his life today, one he won’t have known was in him and must’ve assumed had passed him by … yet here he is, of the seven billion people on the planet, the man of the world right now. And you know what? This, my friends, is what diversity gives us, a group of Cape Verdians dispersed around the world, coming together for a single cause. May we pursue peace, justice, equality and kindness with similar zealotry.
If Spain don’t beat Uruguay, they might face Argentina in the first knockout round…
Oh my complete and utter everloving days. Yesterday, Curacao gave us a moment of eternal beauty; today, Cape Verde have given us 90+6 of heart and competence … followed by an even more intense dose of release. Imagine the feeling – we’re all experiencing just a bit of it – and feeling pride for a group of lads for whom we’d now do anythnig, that have nothing to do with us, who most of had barely heard of a few days ago. Football!
FULL TIME: Spain 0-0 Cape Verde
I don’t know what to tell you, people. The World Cup is the World Cup, football is invincible, and Cape Verde is the happiest place in the world right now, it’s players enjoying the moments of their lives, the moments of a million lifetimes. What a species we are!
90+6 min The corner picks out Oyarzabal at the near post, he flicks … and the ball misses everyone, then goes behind! CaAPE VERDE HAVE DONE IT! CAPE VERDE HAVE DONE IT! WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE WATCHING HERE?! AN AMAZING, EMOTIONAL, MOVING EXPERIENCE – FOR THEM, BUT ALSO FOR US! SENSATIONAL BEHAVIOUR!
90+5 min now Lamine tries a cross, it’s deflected behind, and this is almost it! This might be it!
90+4 min Now Mendes breaks through midfield – if Cape Verde had tried to win sooner, who knows where we’d be now! He shanks an effort wide but won’t mind that, it buys time and a breather!
90+3 min Now Da Costa carries forward, Pedri hacks him down and is booked. Capoe Verde are nearly there, and I’ve just realised I’m standing up, I don’t even know how long for!
90+1 min We’ll have five additional minutes, and this match is now on fast forward, the teams swapping attacks which come to nowt. We are witnessing one of the great rearguards here, mates, a rearguard so brilliant it barely even feels like one.
90 min The corner picks out Borges, he leaps for immortality … and heads straight at Unai Simon! what an opportunity that was!
90 min and now Cape Verde counter, Duarte carrying forward with men up! But he opts to cut back a long way, for Kevin, who shoots … and the ball kicks off Olmo and rears behind for a corner! A chance to win it!
88 min A ball into the box is swept into the middle by Olmo, and Oyarzabal steps on to it, swings to put Spain in front … and Pico Lopes, the Crumlinian Cape Verdian, throws his body in the road … somehow introducing head to ball, sending it over the top! What a night he’s having, a performance for the ages, and this is exactly what the World Cup is about! My fingers are shaking!
87 min That’s Rodri’s last contribution – he’s replaced by Williams, a final roll of the dice from De la Fuente, who’ll have to accept most of the responsibility for this performance BUT EXCUSE ME WHILE I INTERRUPT MYSELF!
86 min A cross is half-cleared, so Rodri swings a left boot at it … shooting over the top. That was an impatient gesture from a man we associate with patient, incisive passing; Spain haven’t looked likely to score all game, nor that they’re absolutely desperate so to do. Their lack of intensity is extremely surprising.
84 min “When you’re willing on the improbable in football, watching the clock tick towards 90 is (or was) an essential part of the experience. The thrill of that has really been dulled now by the knowledge that, because of endless substitutions and hydration breaks, there’s probably another 10 in the post. And all of this in the land where they love the sound of the buzzer to close out sports. Anyways, all hands to the pump Cape Verde!”
We need a clock connected to the ref’s watch – partly for drama, but also because how long is left shouldn’t be a secret.
83 min Lamine crosses, Merino flicks on, and at the back post it’s Cucurella … but his downward header is straight at Vozinha, who collects.
81 min Another change for Spain, Olmo – who I’d have set on sooner – replacing Ferran.
79 min And Arcanjo is immediately into the action, heading clear when Oyarzabal slings in the kind of cross he’s there to convert. So off Spain go again, but again, when the ball comes in, there aren’t enough players looking to break the last line, and Borges clears. This getting seriously tense now – it’s all very well defending with composure at the start of the game, but the moment of the Cape Verde lads’ careers is now in the balance. That can have a profound effect on their ability to think clearly – I won’t lie, it’s affecting mine.
77 min Words I never thought I’d write: Spain need to do more tiki-taka. The quick one and two-touch sequences, when we’ve seen them, have been far too slow and, as I type, Borges flings his body in front of a Pedri shot from the edge. I can’t believe how bad De la Fuente’s men have been – they’ve lacked width, wit, tempo ad intensity. But Lamine has just won them a corner, before which Arcanjo replaces Monteiro.
76 min Sidny Cabral, on a yellow and now marking Lamine, is sensibly withdrawn; Joao Paulo replaces him.
75 min “I feel like I’m watching Groundhog Day,” emails Charles Pearson. “Spain have ball, Spain attack, Cape Verde defend well, Spain’s attack comes to nothing. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. When will the existential epiphany come that breaks the loop?”
Well we’re close to the all-is-lost moment at the end of Act II…
73 min A buzz flows around the ground the second Lamine gets the ball; he does nothing with his first go of it, but then he beats his man on the outside, cutting back for Llorente, who squares for Merino, near the penalty spot … who scuffs his shot, Vozinha fielding easily enough.
72 min The Lamine change is, of course, the obvious one, but Merino makes sense too – he’s excellent in the air and a great target for the dinked crosses we’ve been seeing.
71 min On come Lamine and Merino, for Gavi and Fabian Ruiz.
68 min There are tough acts to follow, and then there’s replacing Oliver Glasner at Crystal Palace.
69 min Vozinha stays down, then it’s time for a hydration break … after which I think we’ll see Lamine Yamal.
67 min I never thought I’d criticise a Spain team, never mind one run by Rodri and Pedri, of a lack of game intelligence. But that’s exactly what we’re seeing – the quick interchanges that pick defences apart have been almost totally absent … and, as I type, Vozinha comes to collect another cross.
66 min There’s still a lack of urgency and tempo in Spain’s passing. I’m not sure what they were told at half-time, but I doubt it was “more of the same please lads” – yet that’s pretty much what we’re seeing.
64 min Spain remember what works, another diag from just outside the box picking out Cucurella. But Moreira blocks his cross, and this is such a good defensive effort. Usually in a game such as this one, you’d expect a smorgasbord of last-ditch blocks and penalty-area pinball, but what stands out here is Cape Verde’s discipline and composure. They’re denying space brilliantly, refusing to dive into tackles. and crowding second balls.
62 min The corner comes to nowt.
61 min Changes for Cape Verde: off go Jovane Cabral, Laros Duarte and Livramento; on come Deroy Duarte, brother of, along with Da Costa and Willy Semedo.
60 min Cape Verde make a rare attack and, when Jovan Cabral misses his kick, Spain counter with Ferran, But Borges does a really good job of shackling him, at cost of a corner.
59 min I’d not be at all surprised if the Cape Verde players are telling themselves and each other to hold out until the hydration break. Meantime, Ferran goes down the right stands up a cross for no one, and Vozinha flies out to claim.
58 min Spain are starting to feel the pressure, Laporte flinging himself into a Kompany v Leicester-style shot, thrashing over the bar from way out.
56 min Pedri looks likeliest to make something happen and he glides a ball into the middle, measured to meet the run of Fabian Ruiz … who heads straight at Vozinha.
55 min Spain seem to have forgotten what was working for them before the break – those clipped passes out wide seem to have vanished. I don’t think it’ll be long before De la Fuente makes a change or two.
53 min “With Amorim,” begins Nelson Calvinho, “let’s conveniently forget some of United’s best recruited players in some time happened during his watch, that he gave a new lease of life to players who didn’t count (Casemiro. Maguire), that he elevated the standards inside and outside the pitch for the benefit of whoever came next, that he was already fighting for champions League spots when he left, that the results started to go south this season when he lost some key players to injury and Afcon, and that results with Carrick (who’s done a terrific job) immediately and coincidentally improved when said players returned and Carrick took the job…
I remember the media saying Pep’s football could not work in the Premier League after his first, trophyless, season. Pundits can only state what happened yesterday or is happening now, but rarely can see much further (another case in point, Brentford’s relegation being given as a fact even before Keith Andrews’ first session as a head coach). As fickle as fan’s impressions and often personal.
Vamos Tubarões Azuis!”
I agree with a lot of this – the football was mainly dreadful, results were worse, and his exclusion of Kobbie Mainoo a complete nonsense. But if United get good from here, he’ll be the one who started the process – and I agree that, had there been no Afcon, at the same time Bruno Fernandes got injured, he might still be in the job … but I also think him extremely fortunate to have held it for as long as he did, and the work Michael Carrick has done should be a source of major embarrassment.
51 min Pedri and Oyarzabal gang up on Duarte in midfield, winning the ball, which then moves wider to Fabian Ruiz, at inside-right. He dips back inside, shoots … over the top.
48 min Co-commentating on English telly, Lee Dixon says Atlanta Stadium might be the best he’s ever been in, and I can see that aesthetically, it’s impressive. However the lack of pitch-level seating means that it’s not in the conversation as far as my standards go – one reason you go to a game is to feel part of it, and once you’re above it, that’s diluted.
48 min Again, it’s Pedri looking to game-break, standing up Sidny Cabral then shifting the ball by him to get a yard, standing up a cross for Oyarzabal … whose header hits a defender, allowing Cape Verde to clear.
