World Cup 2026, there'll be another new entry: Cape Verde in history
After Jordan and Uzbekistan, which successfully passed the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, the World Cup scheduled in the United States, Canada and Mexico will welcome a third new entry from Africa: it is Cape Verde, which with its 3-0 success against the eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) national team finished in first place in Group D of the CAF area.
A rat invades the field, match suspended: photos
The representative of the country from the’archipelago off mainland Africa, in the Atlantic Ocean, among other things, sets a historic record: with a population of about 600,000, Cape Verde will be the least populated non-European country to participate in the World Cup and the second including the Old Continent (only Iceland, which qualified for the 2014 World Cup, had fewer inhabitants, just under 400,000 at the time). Cape Verde will keep company, among the Africans, with Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia, which have already secured a pass earlier. Still three continental spots remain to be filled.
In the match played Monday at Cape Verde’s National Stadium in Praia, the archipelago’s capital, the Blue Sharks (that’s their nickname) defeated the eSwatini by a comfortable 3-0, although the first goal had to wait until the 3rd′ of the second half: it was signed by an old acquaintance of Italian soccer, the former Hellas Verona Rocha Livramento, now at Casa Pia in Portugal.
The doubling, on the other hand, bore the signature of Willy Semedo, a Nicosia (Cyprus) Omonia footballer, in goal at 54′, while veteran Stopira (class of 1988, a long spell in Hungary at Videoton before going to play in Portugal) closed the accounts definitively in the final, at 91′. Cape Verde, in the standings, overcame competition from Cameroon, which finished the group with four fewer points (23 vs. 19) and must wait for the conclusion of the other groupings to see if it will be able to play in the playoffs, which involve the best runners-up.
