As the final whistle blew and Argentina’s players celebrated their dramatic 3-2 victory, one of the most emotional moments of the 2026 FIFA World Cup unfolded on the other side of the pitch.Cape Verde forward Nuno Da Costa stood in tears, surrounded by his equally emotional family members. Despite his own grief after his country’s historic World Cup run ended, Da Costa was seen comforted by his son, who was also in tears.See:The scenery perfectly encapsulates the unique journey of Cape Verde. The small island nation of just over 500,000 people pushed defending champions Argentina to the brink in a thrilling Round of 32 clash before going down 3-2 after extra time.Lionel Messi, who scored his record-extending 20th World Cup goal, admitted Argentina were forced to dig deep to survive.“As this team has shown many times, and as I have said many times, it competes,” Messi said in Spanish. “And we competed until the end.”Few have given Cape Verde a chance to enter the tournament. Yet the debutants of the World Cup shocked the world of football by becoming the smallest country to reach the knockout stage, preventing former champions Spain and Uruguay to draw before making one of the games of the tournament against Argentina.Cape Verde equalized twice, once in regulation and again in extra time, and looked set to pull off one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history before an own goal finally ended their dream.“I have to give credit to our opponents,” said Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni. “The truth is, when people say that nothing is easy. against, today (Cape Verde) proved that they are a good team.”Goalkeeper Vozinha once again starred in a series of outstanding saves, while head coach Bubista praised the courage and identity of his players.“Let’s dignify what our country is. We drew twice against the world champions, we took it to extra time,” said Bubista. “More than anything, it’s proud of our players with dignity in the World Cup. We show our identity.”Defender Pico Lopes echoed that sentiment.“We’re getting closer, we’re pushing them to the end,” he said. “But in the end, it was not possible. Disappointed … but I think we showed good character today, a good quality to get back into the game twice. They are world champions for a reason.”As Cape Verde’s players remained on the pitch long after the final whistle, hugging each other through tears, Bubista summed up what his team had achieved.“We showed that we can be a small country,” he said, “but we can play against some of the best teams in the world.”