The Cape Verde Islands stand on the brink of a historic World Cup qualification, requiring just one victory from their next two matches to secure a place in next year’s tournament.
This achievement would underscore the remarkable progress of a nation that, two decades ago, had barely registered on the international football stage.
With a population of approximately 600,000, the wind-swept archipelago off Africa’s west coast would become the second smallest country, after Iceland, to reach the global finals.
Their path to North America hinges on upcoming fixtures: an away game against Libya on Wednesday, followed by a home clash with Eswatini next Monday.
A win in either would guarantee them top spot in Group D, fending off much-fancied Cameroon for the automatic qualifying berth.
Cape Verde’s journey has been marked by both promise and past heartbreak. They narrowly missed out on the 2014 World Cup playoffs after a points deduction for fielding a suspended player.
More recently, they reached the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in their 2013 debut and again at the last edition, where they were unluckily eliminated on penalties.
This current success is a far cry from their early days, having averaged just two international games a year between joining FIFA in 1986 and their first World Cup qualifiers in 1990, when they were ranked 182nd globally.
The progress since has been rapid, driven by actively finding players from the Diaspora around the world.
Talent identification paying off
“The football association devised new strategies around identifying and recruiting talent throughout the large Cape Verdean communities,” said US-based agent Tony Araujo, who was born on the islands and worked closely with the team over decades.
“The talent identification and global recruitment process started to pay off huge dividends around 2013, when they qualified for their first Cup of Nations final.”
Scarce natural resources and an arid landscape have long caused migration from the islands, stretching back to the Portuguese colonial period.
Migrants left in droves for Portugal as well as other destinations, like the U.S. eastern seaboard and Dutch port of Rotterdam.
The squad for this week’s fixtures has six Dutch-born players plus others born in Portugal, France, and Ireland. Shamrock Rovers’ Roberto “Pico” Lopes, who will play in central defence, was among many scouted and approached, some more creatively than others.
“I set up a LinkedIn profile when I was in college but never really looked at it,” Lopes told Reuters.
“I got a message from the then coach Rui Aguas, but he wrote to me in Portuguese. I thought it was spam and took no notice.
“Then about nine months later, he messaged me back, saying, ‘Hi Roberto, have you had a chance to consider what I said to you?’ I copied the message into Google Translate.
“And it basically said that, ‘we’re looking at getting new players into the Cape Verde squad and would you be interested in declaring for Cape Verde? I was absolutely buzzing with that! I was like, ‘yep, 100 per cent I’d love to be a part of the squad’,” he recalled.
In the past, it was hard for the team to attract top European-based Cape Verdean talent, Araujo said.
Success has attracted new players
“But with new waves of recent success, a lot more European-based talents are inclined to choose Cape Verde to showcase their talents at the international level.”
Victory in Tripoli on Wednesday will be tough, but if unsuccessful they will be heavily fancied to secure qualification on Monday with home success against the Swazis.
Beating Cameroon last month set off celebrations across the islands, and those will surely be repeated with vigour should they secure a World Cup spot.
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