The African island state of Cape Verde achieved one of the greatest sensations in World Cup history. The 40-year-old goalkeeper Vózinha caused a gigantic Spanish embarrassment with a performance for the ages.
The “Blue Sharks” showed a brilliant fighting performance and hardly allowed the unimaginative and static favorites to develop. In particular, the 40-year-old keeper Vózinha played an outstanding game and drove the “Furia Roja” to despair with numerous brilliant saves. At home with the 480,000 inhabitants of the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa, this day will go down in history.
We kept trying to score a goal. Somehow these are the games where it doesn’t work. You try, but the goal just won’t come,” said Spain national coach Luis de la Fuente after the game.
Spain starts without Yamal and Williams
As expected, De la Fuente did not take any risks with the lineup and initially left the two wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams on the bench with a view to the rest of the tournament. Both have not been fully fit lately; young star Yamal had to take a few weeks off due to thigh problems.
From the start, Spain almost exclusively had the ball and let it circulate, while Cape Verde stood deep, condensed the spaces and tried not to let their opponents get into the final third of the game.
Superstar Lamine Yamal was condemned to watch until the 71st minute
Luis de la Fuente is dissatisfied with his team
With success – the favorite played too statically, found it extremely difficult and in the first 23 minutes only managed to achieve a goal that was worthy of the name: Pedri didn’t hit the ball properly from almost 18 meters (15th), so that the Cape Verdean keeper Vózinha was not faced with serious problems.
The Spanish coach de la Fuente was correspondingly dissatisfied during the drinking break halfway through the first half – and made a clear and loud speech to his team, demanding more commitment.
Spain coach Jose De la Fuente
Ferran Torres hits the crossbar from close range
A volley from Marc Cucurella, which went over the Cape Verdean goal (29th), started a period of pressure from European champions Spain. The Iberians increased the pace and pressure and had a double chance in the 39th minute. Cucurella headed a strong ball from Rodri inwards from the left, where Ferran Torres hit the crossbar of the Cape Verdean goal from a few meters. Center forward Mikel Oyarzabal headed the rebound towards the goal, but Vózinha directed the ball over the goal with a strong save.
Shortly before the break, Torres again failed with a low shot from eight meters from half-right to Vózinha (45th), in stoppage time the “Blue Sharks” keeper guided Aymeric Laporte’s header around the post after a Spanish corner. So we went into the break with a goalless draw – for Cape Verde this result alone was a huge success.
Cape Verde’s goalkeeper Vozinha high-fives the men in front of him
The second half began the way the first ended: with powerful Spaniards. Fabián Ruiz had three promising shots. First he put the ball over the Cape Verdean goal twice (48th, 51st), then a header didn’t have enough pressure (56th). The Iberians were now pressing extremely hard and Cape Verde could hardly provide any relief.
But Spain still lacked inspiration. Long ball relays without gaining much space meant that coach de la Fuente’s team rarely got into the opponent’s penalty area.
Lamine Yamal is coming, it’s getting loud in the stadium
After 71 minutes, things got loud in Atlanta because superstar Yamal came into the game. Gavi had to make way for the 18-year-old from FC Barcelona. It didn’t take Yamal long to initiate a chance. The winger introduced Marcus Llorente, whose low cross sent Oyarzabal into the arms of Vózinha (73′).
In the final phase, Spain threw everything forward, while Cape Verde continued to defend heroically. A header from Cucurella wasn’t powerful enough, Vózinha was there. Pico was just able to deflect a volley from Oyarzabal (88′). On the other side, the “Blue Sharks” almost turned the game on its head, but Telmo Arcanjo’s header from a corner was denied by Spain keeper Unai Simon (90′).
Cape Verde’s goalkeeper Vozinha in front of the desperate Spaniard Rodri
In the end, even the crowbar didn’t help Spain – it remained at zero. World Cup newcomer Cape Verde achieved a historic sensation against the top favorites.
It continues next Sunday
Spain continues again on Sunday (6 p.m. CEST) in Atlanta. Then the next outsider, Saudi Arabia, awaits the southern Europeans. Cape Verde meets Uruguay in Miami a few hours late (00:00 CEST).