Nigeria may be absent from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but one of the Super Eagles’ most celebrated achievements survived a potential challenge this week when Cape Verde’s historic run through the group stage fell just short of erasing a record the green and white have held for 26 years, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Cape Verde, ranked 64th in the world coming into the tournament, stunned the football world by navigating Group H without a defeat, picking up three draws against Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia to finish second on three points and book a place in the Round of 32.
The achievement made the Blue Sharks only the third-lowest ranked nation to reach the knockout rounds since FIFA introduced its ranking system in 1994, a remarkable feat for a country of roughly 525,000 people making their first-ever appearance at a World Cup.
Yet for all the scale of Cape
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