Thousands of delighted fans met the Cape Verde football team at Praia airport, waving banners as the team returned from a narrow defeat to Argentina in one of the World Cup’s most surprising matchups.
The Sharks will parade through the capital’s streets before meeting with the president and other government officials from the small archipelago nation off the west coast of Africa.
Cape Verde advanced to the knockout stages of their first World Cup, exciting fans at home and garnering new fans abroad as they defied expectations.
Cape Verde brought Argentina to the verge of elimination in an exciting last-32 match in Miami, but the reigning world champions came back to win 3-2 in extra time.
The team’s return home coincided with Cape Verde’s Independence Day.
“After the heroes who fought for our independence, we now have these heroes — the Blue Sharks,” fan Edmilson Correia, 28, told AFP from the airport crowd.
Cape Verde coach Bubista addressed the press after landing.
“We demonstrated that our World Cup qualification wasn’t down to luck. We showed hard work and resilience, and we left the United States with our heads held high,” he said.
Supporters wearing club blue struggled to catch sight of their favourites, including Sidny Lopes Cabral and Vozinha.
Twelve-year-old Ivan Goncalves said he was looking for Cabral in particular due to his “fabulous goal against Argentina”.
Antonio Duarte, Minister of Culture and Sports, praised the Blue Sharks and their coach for “cementing Cape Verde’s status as a great nation”.
Despite the team’s loss to Argentina, celebrations erupted in Praia in the early hours of Saturday morning as fans remembered the fairytale voyage and narrow defeat to the world champions.
Cape Verde, a country of only 500,000 inhabitants, celebrated its 51st anniversary of independence from Portugal, which had controlled it for 500 years.
