World Cup: Tiny Cape Verde stuns powerhouse Spain in 0-0 draw
ATLANTA — The most important player on Spain’s World Cup roster didn’t see the pitch in the first 70 minutes of the nation’s opener against Cape Verde. Perhaps not coincidentally, a Lamine Yamal-less La Roja struggled early and often against the Blue Sharks, who made their first-ever World Cup appearance Monday in Atlanta.
The result: the most stunning result of the World Cup so far, a 0-0 draw that left the favorites reeling and the newcomers celebrating, thanks to a magnificent 40-year-old goalie and a world’s worth of pressure on Spanish shoulders. As the stoppage time ran out, Cape Verde players whooped and celebrated before their tiny crowd of faithful … and the thousands more throughout the stadium who’d jumped on their bandwagon in the previous, shocking 90 minutes.
Spain won the World Cup in 2010, but it’s been a rough and disappointingly short ride for La Roja ever since, with exits in the group stage in 2014 and the round of 16 in 2018 and 2022. Still, Spain can open strong — see the 7-0 victory over Costa Rica to start the 2022 World Cup — and every indication pointed that direction on Monday.
Instead, facing a squad from a nation with a smaller population than literally every state in America, Spain poked, prodded, jabbed and stuck throughout the first half, only to come up empty. Through 45 +4 minutes, Spain owned the game by every metric except the most important one. La Roja held a 57%-32% possession advantage, a 13-3 shots advantage, a 394-182 pass advantage … and none of it mattered a bit, because the score at halftime stood at 0-0.
Cape Verde, meanwhile, ran the pitch like a pack of golden retrievers set loose on an orchestral performance, cheerfully disrupting meticulous plans and blowing up one set piece after another. The star of Cape Verde’s first half was unquestionably goalie Vozinha, a 40-year-old dynamo who blocked, chipped, deflected and stonewalled every Spanish first-half effort. All the while, a tiny contingent of blue-clad Cape Verde supporters lost their minds as the massive Spain-heavy crowd seethed.
Spain had their first-half chances, most notably late in the half when Ferran Torres banged a shot off the crossbar, and Vozinha then saved an immediate header from Mikel Oyarzabal.
Chance after Spanish chance went unfulfilled, and nerves worked their way deep into the announced crowd of 67,640. (The hundreds of scattered empty four-figure seats along midfield did not comment.)
The second half began with more Spanish attacking, more blown crosses, more over-the-crossbar misses, and within minutes, the whistles from the frustrated Spanish fans had kicked in hard. (A funny side note that surely became progressively less so as the scoreless minutes wore on: Barcelona fans in the audience lustily booed Spain’s Marc Cucurrella every time he touched the ball. Cucurrella began his professional career aligned with Barca but had signed with Real Madrid earlier in the day.)
When Yamal finally did enter the match at the second-half hydration break, the joyful cheers from the Spanish fans threatened to blow open the retractable roof of “Atlanta Stadium.” But Yamal had no more success than any of his countrymen in breaking through the Vozinha Wall. Almost immediately, he set up Mikel Marino … who, yes, fired a shot right into the waiting hands of Vozinha.
By the 87th minute, with Spain again attempting, and failing, to set up shots on goal, the boos and whistles drowned out the cheers. And when the Blue Sharks fired a corner kick that very nearly ended up in Spain’s net, the dread at a potential unmitigated disaster was virtually visible in the Atlanta air. Spain was no more effective in the five minutes of stoppage time than in the previous 90 minutes, and the game ended in bitter, scoreless disappointment for La Roja.
So what now for one of the pre-tournament favorites? Spain, which will face Saudi Arabia on Sunday in Atlanta, should still advance out of Group H. Cape Verde, meanwhile, can return home as national heroes, no matter what happens the rest of this Cup.
