Cape Verde Nearly Scores From 90th-Minute Corner as 0-0 Draw With Spain Nears

Q: Can a nation of 500,000 people pull off the World Cup’s greatest shock against top-ranked Spain in their debut?

Yes — if Cape Verde holds on for a draw, it would rank among the World Cup’s biggest opening-match shocks, even if not necessarily the single greatest. The scale of the upset is clear. Cape Verde, a nation of roughly 500,000 people, is making its first-ever World Cup appearance and came into the tournament ranked 67th by FIFA. Spain are ranked No. 1, are reigning European champions, and were overwhelming favorites, with Opta giving them an 87.2% chance of winning. Betting markets were similarly lopsided. What makes this especially striking is that Cape Verde are not just surviving by luck. In stoppage time they are still level, have just won their first corner in the 90th minute, and nearly stole the match with a header from Borges after Arcanjo’s delivery. That reflects the resilience coach Bubista promised and the late-game nerve the team showed at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, when they produced stoppage-time results against Ghana and Egypt. A win over Spain would clearly enter the conversation with Saudi Arabia’s 2022 victory over Argentina and Switzerland’s 2010 win over Spain as one of the tournament’s great giant-killings. Even a draw would be a landmark result for a debutant of this size against the top-ranked side in the world. So the answer is yes: Cape Verde can pull it off, and if they do, it will be one of the defining shocks of modern World Cup history.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jun 15

Cape Verde won its first corner of the match in the 90th minute and nearly turned it into a late goal, producing one of its few shots on target against Spain.
That chance came after Cape Verde had gone the entire match without a corner, underscoring how little attacking pressure it had generated before the final minutes.
With stoppage time underway and the score still 0-0, Cape Verde was trying to hold on a few more minutes to secure a draw.