Alternate title: Blue Sharks Take a Bite out of Spain
On Monday in the opening match of Group H, Cape Verde held the former world champion Spain to a 0-0 draw. Cape Verde, an island archipelago of the Africa coast and the second smallest nation in this World Cup, are debutantes to the competition. They’re known as the Blue Sharks, but were considered little more than guppies in this fixture.
In contrast, Spain’s superlatives run pages long: World Cup winners in 2010, European champs in 2008, 2012 and 2024 and UEFA Nations League champions in 2023. Spain is the #2 ranked team in the world. Cape Verde is #67. Sixty-five places lie between them, the second greatest gap ever in the World Cup match (Germany vs. Curaçao gap was 72). Odds for Spanish victory were absurdly high (a $10 bet on Spain to NOT win would’ve over $25,000 if placed before the match started).
O Vozinha!
Cape Verde’s goalkeeper celebrated his 40th birthday on June 3rd, and he is among seven 40 year plus players at this tournament. His face is craggy and weathered, a visual testament to the steely resolve of his nation. And today he played with the energy of a youngster half his age. He recorded seven saves, and most importantly squeezed every possible second out of every possession with true veteran’s savvy.
He plies his trade in the Portuguese second division with GC Chaves, and has held stints in Slovenia (AC Trencin), Moldova (Zimbru Chisinau) and Cyprus (Limassol). This is hardly a petal-strewn history, but tonight he is a national hero. “I worked my entire life for this moment,” he said in a post-match interview, before acknowledging the generations before him who never got this special opportunity.
Spain Disappoints
Spain’s performance in this opening match was woeful.
It carries echoes from World Cup 2010, when they lost 1-0 to a similarly disciplined side, Switzerland. That was also considered a major upset. Of course, they recovered and went on to lift the trophy, so this result is not a death sentence nor does it require histrionic declarations of doom.
One particularly telling statistic around Spain’s ineffectiveness: Mikel Oyarzabal became the first player since 1966 to play 30 minutes without touching the ball once! I don’t want to accuse Spain of being lazy, but it did look like many were taking a siesta.
Eventually Spain woke up, only to realize that Cape Verde was not going to roll over and make it easy for them. They threw everything they had, and fell spectacularly short. Luis de la Fuente was forced into fielding some players in a desperate attempt to kickstart Spain in a late victory.
Lamine Yamal came on the thunderous aplomb, and underwhelmed. Nico Williams also took the pitch to no effect. It wasn’t their night; the plaudits and cheers were reserved for the plucky minnows.
Tale of the Tape
Up until stoppage time, Cape Verde’s xG was hovering at 0.04. But with their 91st minute corner getting headed on frame, it climbed to 0.29 (Diney Borges desperately wants that one back I can assure you, he didn’t get good enough contact).
As you can see on this momentum map, the game was essentially all Spain.
La Roja dominated in nearly every statistic, but it’s really in shots where the story lies. In addition to Vozinha, the Cape Verde defense stepped up to block eight shots to complement the seven saves.
Even the woodwork denied a Spanish effort!
Kudos to Cape Verde for providing a World Cup upset that will forever be burned into the memory of its people, and gave all the neutrals around the globe something to cheer about.
