In Atlanta, the African rookies held tournament favorites Spain to a goalless draw, pulling off one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history.
Despite being the third-smallest country to ever compete in a World Cup, Cape Verde exhibited the greatest heart, making it one of the biggest mismatches in football history.
Vozinha, a 40-year-old goalie who played in Portugal’s second division the previous season and made four great stops, was one of the heroes.
He denied Mikel Merino and Marc Cucurella from inside the box late on, turned over Mikel Oyarazabal’s header, stopped low from Ferran Torres’ close-range attempt, and deflected Aymeric Laporte’s goalbound header around the corner.
Pico Lopes of Shamrock Rovers, who stopped Oyarazabal with a spectacular last-ditch block on minute 88 to save a likely winner, came in second behind Vozinha for man of the match.
Diney Borges was discovered unmarked at a late, rare corner that Cape Verde could have won, but it was blocked into goalkeeper Unai Simon’s way.
Torres missed a first-half opportunity by hitting the bar from six yards, but Spain was also incompetent and wasteful. Spain was unable to respond, even when Lamine Yamal was substituted from the bench.
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