تدريب Shadowing: Cape Verde - The Greatest Story In World Cup History - تعلم التحدث بالإنجليزية عبر الفيديو

Football sometimes doesn't need to make sense and that's okay

because sometimes in football things happen that You don't really even need to explain

because sometimes it's not something you can see But it's something

that you feel this is the story of Cape Verde

or Cabell Verde a nation that I can almost near Guarantee

that you may have never heard of prior of a few years ago Hey, I mean even for some you may have never even heard of Cape Verde prior to a year ago

And there is a reason for this.

How can a country with 600,000 people, a nation spread across 10 individual islands, a country that never played in the World Cup,

a country that only entered the first AFCON back in 2013, somehow stand toe-to-toe with Spain,

Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, and were minutes away from knocking out Lionel Messi's Argentina.

In the entirety of football history, this is the greatest underdog story ever told.

And the best part is, they didn't even need to win a game.

I know that sometimes I get criticised for being too negative at times

and talk about the bad stories in football and how people are failing.

I cannot look past this.

Even I have been defeated.

This is the Cape Verde story.

Tell me down below, is this the greatest story in football history?

Or is that maybe a step too far?

At least in World Cup history, that could be said.

Because for me, the impact of this story is incredible.

And it should always remind you that no matter how big or great teams are coming up against an underdog,

it is still only 11v11 men on a football pitch.

And anything can still happen.

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Now let's get into it.

Now I would argue that Cape Verde is the World Cup's greatest ever story.

This is a combination of population of the struggles of a nation and how they don't even have a domestic football league.

Now this brings some great stories in World Cup history and international football history.

You've got the famous Cameroon side in 1990, Roger Miller becoming a global icon, beating the defending champions of Argentina in the first game of the tournament

and going all the way to the quarterfinals only narrowly being knocked out by England.

Or there's the entire 2002 World Cup where Senegal, South Korea and Turkey all went deep in tournaments.

Senegal, their first ever World Cup making it to a quarterfinal, beating France, the reigning champions, in their first game.

South Korea knocking out Spain and also Italy.

However, the controversies of how they got through may and some people tarnish how they did it.

Often overlooked is also Costa Rica back in 2014, in a group of England, Italy and Uruguay, not just getting out of the group,

but also topping it, and only just being knocked out in the quarterfinals by the Netherlands on penalties.

And if we're looking outside the World Cup, the best comparison I can make is probably Iceland,

back in Euro 2016, a nation which is just as small as Cape Verde.

Iceland are smaller, with 330,000 population.

In Euro 2016, that was their first ever major tournament ever.

Qualifying now to their group with Hungary, Austria and Portugal finishing second.

And famously knocking out England and the Viking Club became famous across the entire footballing world.

Something that you still see now to this day.

And in that same tournament, you cannot ignore Wales.

They're also in the first ever major tournament in over 60 years, making it to a semi-final.

The greatest may always be given to Greece for the ultimate underdog story as they went on to actually win the competition, Greece winning every knockout game 1-0,

beating Portugal twice, France, Czech Republic.

The comparison of Greece winning Euro 2004 to this World Cup would be to let's say if, I don't know, Bosnia somehow won the World Cup this year.

It's just impossible to think of.

So now we get to Cape Verde.

Now, who even is Cape Verde?

Where even is Cape Verde?

Again, to a lot of people, you may struggle to find where they are on the map because they are so small.

Cape Verde or Cabo Verde isn't even on mainland Africa.

It is just west of Senegal with a collection of 10 individual islands.

10 volcanic islands, by the way with the last type of volcano going off in Cape Verde was only 12 years ago in 2014.

This was an 88-day eruption that destroyed a lot of the infrastructure there.

So whereas, let's say Iceland, that does have a smaller population to Cape Verde, they at least are one complete island.

That's all together, which makes it a lot easier to have a domestic football league, to actually have a level of football infrastructure.

Iceland has had a football league since 1912.

Cape Verde doesn't even have their own professional football league.

So it makes you think, how does that happen?

We already know the population, 600,000 people.

The comparison for the UK is that let's say you take just the city of Manchester, just the entire area, pick them up from UK and plant it in the sea,

which I guess for some people they may prefer that, and start a football nation based on people only from Manchester or on that island.

In comparison to Argentina, who they almost knocked out, is 46 million people.

Of course, historically, Cape Verde is a Portuguese colony.

A similar story to many islands, and after they gained independence in 1975, still they were not a footballing nation of any kind.

And recognized by FIFA in 1982, it's like imagining any small Atlantic or Caribbean island or oceanic island suddenly making it to a World Cup.

This is comparable to, let's say, if Fiji.

Fiji just suddenly became really good at football.

And by the way, they still have a rugby team, which is impressive by itself.

And that's what makes this story different to, let's say, Iceland's, is that this is all about diaspora

or the dispersion of the ethnic people from this region across the entire world.

Because despite the fact that Cape Verde may only have 600,000 people, the people from Cape Verde originating from Cape Verde is across the entire world.

Communities obviously in Portugal, in France, in Netherlands, in Luxembourg, in the United States.

Meaning that almost all of the players you're seeing for the Cape Verde team aren't even born and raised in Cape Verde, but are raised from all around the world.

Of course, many of these players typically wouldn't be able to play for the French or the Portuguese national team, so they select to represent back all.

But that means a lot to them, generation after generation, players that are living overseas decide to commit to playing for Cape Verde, which led to them making an AFCON back in 2013,

and then another, and then another, and now they're a standard team in the AFCON.

But the World Cup?

That's just impossible to think of.

Now, I know what you're thinking, right? this would never have been possible

if it was not for the expansion of the World Cup.

Let's say prior, back in 2022, there was only five spots guaranteed for African nations in the CAF.

Now, due to this expansion, NASCAR from five guaranteed now to nine.

Nine groups of six teams with one potentially making it to an international playoff.

Their intercontinental playoff going to DR Congo, by the way.

Meaning that there was 10 African nations in this World Cup, which doubled what there ever has been in history.

And in Cape Verde group, yes, there was a likes of Mauritius and Esrantini, Libya.

But there was also a nation in there like Angola that also qualified for a welcome back in 2006.

But the main one was, of course, Cameroon.

Cameroon, you would always expect to be top in this group and qualifying for a World Cup.

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But not only did Cape Verde qualify ahead of Cameroon, they only lost one game in the entirety qualifying, went five games in a row, and qualified with games spare.

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This in itself was a massive achievement and a huge shock to African football.

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And I've not even talked about a team.

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Look at this team and look at the clubs that they play for, okay? have a good look.

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This is a starting 11 for who played against Argentina last night.

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You've got the Ratbeck Moreira that plays for Columbus Crew in the MLS.

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You've got probably the most well-known player in Jovan Cabral who played a lot of his career in Portuguese top flight, most predominantly for Sporting Lisbon.

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Funnily enough, Burnley were actually linked to him a few years back.

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Lopez who plays for Shamok Rovers in Ireland.

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Duarte plays for Ludegoretsk in Bulgaria.

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So pretty much all these players play at a professional level for a team somewhere in the entire world.

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A player What you definitely know now is Vazinho, the goalkeeper, who plays in the second tier of Portuguese football, the highest tier he's ever played at, really is Limassol over the Cypriot Topper League.

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And this guy is saving Lionel Messi's shots non-stop last night.

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Sidney Cabral, that scored the Screamer against Argentina last night, is a left-back at Travzonspor.

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Kevin Pena, who scored the free kick against Uruguay, plays for Krasnodar in Russia, all pieced together by a man called Bobista that's been part of the Cape Verde national team

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and has been manager for the last six years.

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With no real manager experience of any level that is even professional, that despite them obviously having lesser quality to a lot of the nations here,

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they were defensively compact.

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They defended together, they were disciplined, and they attacked fast.

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Set up in a way which is perfect for knockout football.

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However, when you have such less quality, it usually doesn't work, as you just wouldn't be able to get out from the back.

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Yes, you get a low block and aim to counter fast and work on transition, but if you don't have players that have the composure, that have the belief to even go past a man,

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to be able to pass to someone, be impressed at an elite level.

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You feel like you are literally going to get killed.

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I've played semi-professional football, and let me tell you this, I have zero composure compared to what I thought I did.

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You cannot think, you cannot breathe, you are in a constant anxiety around you.

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You cannot have the ball for longer than a second or two without knowing someone is on you.

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And that's the reason when a top team plays a lower team, they always win, because a lower team just doesn't have the composure to actually pass out from the back.

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Hence why they make mistakes and get punished for it.

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Incredibly, this did not happen.

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And Cape Verde still, to remind you, didn't even need to win a game.

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But even better, they still didn't even lose a game in 90 minutes against Spain, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and Argentina.

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And obviously no one gave them a chance.

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And understandably, people looked at Cape Verde in the same ilk as Haiti and Jordan and Iraq in Curaçao, which is the idea that,

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oh, well, this is a cute story, but it'd be lucky if they could even get a point in the group stage.

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That would be seen as a miracle.

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Just get a point, and that would be seen as a win.

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It's already a success for them to even be here.

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So when they're putting a group of Spain and Uruguay, two, of course, famous footballing nations, and then Saudi Arabia that still have had a lot of money and infrastructure in the last half a decade,

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everyone expecting maybe Saudi Arabia to be the only chance they have any hope of getting a point.

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And when their first game came up against Spain, they got a nil-nil draw.

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And this felt like already that this was the story of the tournament.

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This felt like a massive shock, because it was, obviously.

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Spain had wave after wave of attacks, but they defended well.

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They were well organized.

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And Vazini, their goalkeeper, made save after save after save.

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Every cross that came in, he made good decisions.

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He was brave.

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And at the age of 40, but Cape Verde, to be fair to them, still came out with six shots in that game.

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They still, on the break, showed that they had a bit of something.

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Varsinha had seven saves, but they only made two big chances that entire game spin, despite all of that possession and all the time.

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Technically, they should have passed their way through Cape Verde, no matter how good their defensive organization could be.

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But yet they still didn't.

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And this probably created a mental shift in the minds of the Cape Verde players and fans, that thinking maybe they can actually do something.

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So when the next game came to Uruguay, they had belief now.

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Uruguay knew all they had to do was win.

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Everyone expected Uruguay to win.

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I remember watching this game and I was shocked because guess what?

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Cape Verde went 1-0 up.

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From a free kick from about 30 odd yards out, just randomly hit.

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It was a hopeful shot.

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It's something that I would do if I was playing.

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The Uruguayan wall completely let down the goalkeeper and Miss Lera was caught out completely.

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And Cape Verde, it felt like that was their moment of the tournament.

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They were in the lead against Uruguay.

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So when at halftime, Uruguay came back to make it 2-1, everyone thought that it was done.

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Mental hit it must have took to go in the lead and to concede two goals just before halftime.

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No one would have been surprised if you saw that full time ended 4-1 to Uruguay and it was done.

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But no, in that game they defended well and on the break they were always a threat.

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A awful mistake at the back by Mussolera and Cape Verde were 2-2.

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There were 30 minutes to go and still had to defend yet again, but they did.

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And they had a threat on the break that made it that Uruguay always had to be cautious of how they attack.

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And after another draw to Uruguay, basically at the time knocking out Uruguay it felt like, because they had to go against Spain next.

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When they came up against Saudi Arabia, we all kind of felt that this would be so heartbreaking that they would draw to Spain and Uruguay, but then lose to Saudi Arabia.

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That's what I felt.

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But in that game, Cape Verde were the better side.

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Possession were even to Saudi Arabia.

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They had more shots.

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They had a much higher XG.

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They were creating much better chances in Saudi Arabia.

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A huge shock to Saudi Arabia, despite all the infrastructure and money and resources being put into that nation and their league.

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Cape Verde have shown that money doesn't buy anything.

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The game ended 0-0 and they were still waiting in the resulting Uruguay game.

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And after getting three points, drawing 0-3, not losing a single game, Cape Verde were through in second place.

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They didn't even need to come in third.

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And when they officially went through, the celebrations from the players and the staff and everyone, that was already the story of the tournament.

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This alone probably already puts them in the top echelons of the greatest World Cup stories.

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It already puts them up there. So what happened next?

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What happened last night?

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solidifies it for me.

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Just when you looked online, on Instagram, on Twitter, on Reddit, wherever you're on, on TikTok, you saw stories of Cape Verde,

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the players, the fans, they were already the story of the tournament.

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In around 32 they had Argentina, and we all knew that Argentina were going to win.

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Surely they're going to win.

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It possibly would have been 4 or 5-0.

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I expected Argentina to go full strength

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and then by half time they'll be already 2-0 up or something and then play like a BT to rest their players.

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The defending champions, Lionel Messi, and they already looked good in the group stage, or at least Messi looked amazing in the group stage.

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But what happened blew my mind.

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Argentina went in the lead, Messi scoring an incredible goal, amazing first touch.

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We all respect that.

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And then once that first goal went in, yes, we fully expected that Kit Verde would just finally give in.

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They didn't in the second half they were still there attacking on the break Yes, they're defending for large chunk of the game.

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They're suspected, but they were always a threat

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And it was like the Argentine players just didn't really know how to react to it

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because they just didn't expect it They were doing things that they didn't expect them to do that surprised them,

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but defensively This is the most impressive thing Argentina at first half only had four shots

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Like Argentina only had four shots in an entire half to Cape Verde.

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In the second half they had 11 shots but Cape Verde also had five.

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Cape Verde equalised the limitation of chances that they actually made for Argentina.

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I don't think any other team could actually go and do that.

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If England played Argentina, I wouldn't expect them to defend that war against them.

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Lezando Martinez scores early in the actual time.

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It was done.

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It was over.

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Somehow it wasn't.

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Maybe one of the best goals in World Cup modern history scored by a left back from Travdon Spohr in Cabral.

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Just by the power of friendship, just smashes it from way outside the box, from an angle which is in our wildest dreams.

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It's something that you try to do in FIFA career mode, and it all came out to a corner that was an own goal in extra time that broke their hearts.

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But guess what?

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At the end of that game in extra time, it was all Cape Verde.

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Argentina were completely on the ropes, and the opportunities they had, they really could have tucked them to penalties, and anything could have happened.

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We were so, so close to the biggest upset in World Cup history, But they didn't even need to beat them

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because they've already achieved the ultimate footballing dream

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Because in the end they walked off as heroes winning the hearts and minds of the entire world

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Who Cape Verde will always be remembered in football history forever

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And they didn't even need to win a game because for last night and really the entirety of last two weeks

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Cape Verde became everyone's second team and

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that is why years from now people will not just remember the stories

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and whoever wins this World Cup But they will also remember Cape Verde Just like how people remember Cameroon from 1990,

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Senegal in 2002, Iceland in Euron 2016, Cape Verde, despite never even winning a game, they will be remembered forever.

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Comment down below your thoughts, like and subscribe.

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And yeah, Cape Verde, love you.

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Thank you.

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