Cape Verde forward Helio Varela celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's second goal during the 2026 World Cup Group H match against Uruguay at Miami Stadium. Photo: AFP
Cape Verde coach Bubista said his team are targeting a place in the Fifa World Cup 2026 knockout rounds after battling to a 2-2 draw with Uruguay in the latest stop of their fairytale campaign on Monday morning.
The World Cup debutants from the tiny Atlantic archipelago are now within touching distance of the last 32 after following up their improbable opening draw with Spain by taking a point from Uruguay. Cape Verde, ranked 63rd in the world, will head into their final Group H game against Saudi Arabia knowing that victory will secure passage into the next round.
"Since the beginning, what we've been saying is that we would like to compete at the highest possible level, and that's what we're trying to do," Bubista said. "That's what we've been doing in these two matches, and more important than the result is to be able to show our identity as a team, our strength, our unity, and also our resilience.
"We're here to compete to try to achieve a new dream, which is to qualify for the second round and I think it's legitimate to think that way. We have the utmost respect for all of our opponents ... but we're now at a point of saying yes, we will definitely fight for qualification."
