It sets up a round of 32 tie with Argentina <\/a>on Friday July 3 in Miami with kick-off at 11pm.<\/p>\n Image: The key moments from Houston…<\/a><\/p>\n 33: SUB! Saudi defender Hassan Al Tambakti is stretchered off with Ali Lajami on in his place.<\/p>\n 45+2: CLOSE! Saudi go close to the opener, but Vozinha saves Mohamed Kanno’s header.<\/p>\n 49: HUGE CHANCE! Jamiro Monteiro almost puts Cape Verde ahead, but his shot is saved by Mohammed Al Owais.<\/p>\n 74: BIG SAVE! Al Owais makes a superb save to keep Laros Duarte from scoring.<\/p>\n 90+2: HUGE MOMENT! Saudi Arabia have a huge chance to save their World Cup, but Abdullah Al Hamddan’s effort is well-collected by Vozinha.<\/p>\n Neville: Cape Verde shows football is unpredictable – that’s why we love it!<\/p>\n Sky Sports’ Gary Neville on ITV:<\/p>\n “For those sceptics who thought expanding the tournament wasn’t the right thing, they might just be rethinking it watching Cape Verde.<\/p>\n We’ve just seen Uruguay go out, one of the teams with the richest history in this tournament, and now we’ve got one of the smallest countries getting to the knockout phase. It’s a very special moment for them.<\/p>\n “Looking at the group [before the tournament], we would’ve said Spain and Uruguay are through on paper. We wouldn’t have even contemplated Cape Verde doing what they’ve done.<\/p>\n “Football is unpredictable. That’s why we love it and it’s a great moment for the competition and this new format.”<\/p>\n Image: ‘I feel like I’m in a dream’<\/p>\n Cape Verde midfielder Deroy Duarte: “Honestly, it’s mad. I feel like I’m in a dream. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamed of playing in a World Cup.<\/p>\n “First, let’s celebrate. We’re so happy. Let’s hope all \u2060Cape Verdeans are happy too. From tomorrow, we’ll focus on the next match. It’s against Argentina, isn’t it? A tough match, but let’s believe. Anything \u2060is possible.”<\/p>\n Cape Verde forward Dailon Livramento: “We tried to play football, we tried to play our own style. This was the match where we were able to show that.<\/p>\n “In the end, we’ll look at what we could have done better – like finishing off our moves – but that’s \u200cfor the next match. For now, we’re just going to celebrate.”<\/p>\n Selfies and cowboy hats! Cape Verde celebrate historic moment <\/p>\n Image: Image: Image: Image: What the result means… <\/p>\n Player ratings: <\/p>\n Monterosa<\/p>\n This content is provided by Monterosa, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Monterosa cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a>![\"Cape](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skysports-cape-verde-saudi-arabia_7284001.jpg\")
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\n Cape Verde players celebrate after reaching the World Cup’s round of 32<\/p>\n![\"Cape](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skysports-cape-verde-bubista_7284004.jpg\")
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\n Cape Verde head coach Bubista waves the flag as he celebrates reaching the round of 32<\/p>\n![\"Cape](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skysports-cape-verde-saudi-arabia_7284002.jpg\")
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\n Cape Verde celebrates with their fans after their spot in the round of 32 was confirmed<\/p>\n![\"Cape](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skysports-cape-verde-world-cup_7283998.jpg\")
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\n Cape Verde’s Diney Borges celebrates after reaching the round of 32<\/p>\n![\"Cape](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skysports-cape-verde-bubista_7284003.jpg\")
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\n Cape Verde head coach Bubista waves a flag while being carried on the shoulder of Jovane Cabral<\/p>\n![\"Cape](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skysports-cape-verde-vozinha_7284005.jpg\")
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\n Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha takes a selfie with fans after the game against Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n
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\n Allow Cookies Once<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cape Verde continued their fairy tale run at the 2026 World Cup by making the round of 32…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-765379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}