It was the debutant Cape Verde players who held the attention ::: ... still ready to run, ready to play, but eliminated from World Cup 2026

At the final whistle the Argentinian players fell to their knees, thanking stars for the crucial win.

The stands re-erupted with relief, joy and the familiar devotional celebrations. 

A 3-2 victory means Argentina will now play Egypt in Atlanta. 

But it was the Cape Verde players who held the attention in that moment, walking a little disconsolately about at one end, still ready to run, ready to play, but eliminated from this World Cup at the end of its most wonderfully dramatic game.

Cape Verde exit World Cup with heads held high: ‘We did our best and we did it with bravery’

Coach Bubista says campaign has been ‘source of great pride’

Perhaps the greatest moment in this relentlessly thrilling game was that last moment of Cape Verde parity. 

The game had felt perfectly pitched as extra time kicked off with the score 1-1, a note of destiny still circling. 

Two minutes in Argentina scored, Lisandro Martínez picking the ball up from a corner on the edge of the box, cutting inside and shooting high into the roof of the net. 

The stands on that side erupted with roars of relief, joy, affirmation of the narrative, of Messi-ism, the road to New York.  

Vozinha claws away a clever free-kick from Lionel Messi that was floating into the top corner

But Cape Verde, once again, were not done. 

They pressed, won three corners in quick succession. 

And with 102 minutes on the clock made it 2-2, with a moment of startling brilliance from Sydney Lopes Cabral, a goal that felt like one of the great World Cup moments, shades of Josimar ‘86, mixed with François Omam-Biyik, 1990 and all that.

Sidny Lopes Cabral runs off in disbelief after surely the greatest moment in Cape Verde’s history. Photograph: Marco Bello/Reuters (The Guardian London) 

The stadium erupted in small pockets of delirious disbelief and entire looming stands of very abrupt silence. 

Cabral just ran, veering off back to the touchline, leaving the pitch, vaulting some stairs, waiting a bit, then embracing what was presumably his girlfriend, or at least someone who is now his girlfriend, or very keen to be.  

Cape verde threaten world cup shock for the ages before argentina dash dream in extra time classic.  

Cape Verde’s players are drawn almost entirely from the nation’s diaspora population and play largely in second tier leagues around Europe. But they twice equalised in Miami and were the stronger team at the end as the world champions held on.

“The feeling in the dressing room is sadness,” Bubista said. “We are sad because we are leaving the competition and also because we got so close, so close, but I think they must be proud of their performance and of representing our country. It shows the team has a soul.

“We did our best and we did it with bravery. Never did we fail to stay true to our identity, which is why I am so proud of what my players did."

ends