Cape Verde has just shocked the soccer world.
In their first-ever World Cup match, the tiny island nation earned a hard-fought draw against Spain, the European champions who are one of the favorites to win the World Cup next month. After 90 grueling minutes of defending in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the 0-0 scoreline will count as a massive win for the debutants.
The Spanish were heavily favored in the match and expected to waltz against a small nation debuting in the world’s biggest sporting event, hoping to mimic Germany’s 7-1 win against Curaçao a day earlier. Instead, they ran into a rock-solid Cape Verde defense that stifled the talented Spaniards.
Spain dipped into its talented-but-recovering-from-injury bench, playing stars Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams in the final minutes to try and break through the determined Cape Verde defenders. They had no luck.
In the final minutes of the game, the match turned into a back-and-forth affair as Spain threw everything forward to end the scoreless draw. That allowed Cape Verde to have a few opportunities going forward, including a corner kick that resulted in an unmarked Cape Verdean player having an open header that was sent directly at the Spanish keeper.