Cape Verde made history by qualifying for their first World Cup. The team won 3-0 against Eswatini in their final group game on Monday. They scored all their goals in the second half through Dailon Livramento Willy Semedo and Stopira. The win put them ahead of Cameroon in their group. This small island nation from West Africa will now play at the 2026 World Cup in North America. The team started slow but got better as the game went on. The fans in the capital city Praia were happy to see their team reach this big achievement. It’s a huge success for a country with such a small population.
Cape Verde beat Eswatini to get into the World Cup. They started the game two points ahead of Cameroon.
Cape Verde ended up with 23 points in Group D beating Cameroon by four points. Cameroon tied their game with Angola. Cape Verde didn’t play much international soccer 25 years ago.
Now they’ll play in North America next year with eight other African teams. Morocco Tunisia Egypt Algeria and Ghana are already in.
Livramento scored first after halftime when Eswatini made a mistake. Semedo scored an easy goal six minutes later. The old player Stopira came in near the end and scored the last goal.
The government gave everyone in Cape Verde a day off to watch the game. The first half was quiet but after Livramento scored the fans went crazy. Cape Verde is very small – only Iceland was smaller when they made it to the World Cup in 2018.
Cameroon might still get to the World Cup through a playoff system. Their fans booed them after they couldn’t score against Angola. Angola’s old goalkeeper Hugo Marques made some good saves.
