On its way to the round of 16 Argentina trembled with fear. Dani Dvorin's column

4.7.2026 / 11:45

Despite being defeated by the world champions Cape Verde stole the show and captured the heart of the football world. And the world champion? She must pick up the pace

Summary: Argentina - Cape Verde 2:3/

Argentina's national team advanced to the round of 16 in the World Cup early this morning (between Friday and Saturday) but it was the loser Cape Verde that truly captured the heart of the football world. The team came back twice from a deficit equalized temporarily and made the world champions tremble with fear.

Argentina started the match in low gear frequently passing the ball sideways and appeared confident in itself. For some reason it seemed to overlook the fact that Cape Verde reached the knockout stage on merit and not by chance. Although Messi scored again for them in the 29th minute to make it 0:1 that was only the beginning of the story.

Cape Verde had its own desires such as proving that dreams can be realized even against such a powerful opponent as the world champions. At the end of the 120 minutes it is fair to say that Cape Verde despite its elimination stole the show. It did not bow its head pushed forward to score and surprised Messi and his teammates with its ability.

In extra time at 2:2 Argentina struggled to achieve with great difficulty the winning goal scored with a header after a corner. The face of Lionel Scaloni in his 100th match as coach of Argentina could not hide the nightmare he went through until the final whistle. For quite a few minutes he and his players literally prayed to hear the redeeming whistle as their physical and mental strength waned from the effort to protect the 2:3. He will never forget this match.

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Argentina national team players celebrate/

The fact that Cape Verde players left the pitch disappointed and frustrated with some even crying is the best proof that they came to this match to win. Cape Verde is a small country but with an excellent team as Argentine footballers can certainly attest from firsthand experience.

Today the world champions are much more worried than they were the day before yesterday and yesterday. It is doubtful whether what they showed this time will be enough to retain the crown. In attack they lack wingers with dribbling ability and even when players stood on the forward touchlines from right and left they were dried out and suffered almost total neglect by their teammates.

The world champions cannot play at a walking pace. They must dictate the tempo and move the ball at a speed that makes it difficult for the opponent to defend properly and these were exactly the things missing this time from the champions. Argentina repeatedly repeated worthless actions and the three goals they scored do not cancel out this fact.

Argentina finished its group stage matches with maximum points (9 out of 9) and it seemed they were in excellent form. Then came the match held early this morning and presented a completely different picture. If they do not wake up and immediately they will realize that what was difficult against Cape Verde may be even harder in the grueling climb ahead aimed at defending the cup they won four years ago.