Cape Verde qualified for the FIFA 2026 World Cup on Monday, beating Eswatini 3-0 in their last group match to top the standings ahead of Cameroon and complete a fairytale campaign.
The wind-swept West African archipelago overcame first-half nerves to win in the capital, Praia, with second-half goals from Dailon Livramento, Willy Semedo and veteran Stopira, and book a first-ever appearance at the finals.
They started two points ahead of Cameroon, whose eight previous World Cup final appearances are the most by an African country. Cape Verde finished Group D on 23 points, four ahead of Cameroon, who were held at home to a goalless draw by Angola.
Cape Verde rarely played international football some 25 years ago, but now heads to next year’s finals in North America as one of the nine African representatives.
They join Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Ghana, which have qualified already.
Livramento took advantage of Eswatini’s failure to clear to steer home the ball from close range three minutes into the second half, while Semedo also had a tap-in for the second six minutes later.
Stopira, 37, had only come on as a late substitute as an acknowledgement of his long service with the team since 2008, and put a cherry on the cake with a stoppage-time goal.
The island’s 600,000 inhabitants had been given the day off to support their team, but there was little to cheer in a tentative first half before Livramento scored. After that, the celebrations could not be contained.
Cape Verde is the second-smallest country to qualify for the World Cup after Iceland, which competed in Russia in 2018.
Cameroon will likely advance to the playoffs for the four best runners-up across the nine African qualifying groups, but were jeered off in Yaounde after failing to beat Angola, whose 39-year-old goalkeeper, Hugo Marques, made several telling stops.
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