Sports
BUBISTA EYES HISTORY AS CAPE VERDE CLOSE IN ON WORLD CUP LAST 32
Cape Verde coach Bubista says his side are determined to keep dreaming after a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Uruguay left the World Cup debutants on the brink of a place in the knockout rounds.
The tiny Atlantic nation continued their remarkable campaign by following up an opening draw against Spain with another impressive result, earning a point against two-time world champions Uruguay in Group H.
Cape Verde took the lead through a superb Kevin Pina free-kick, but Uruguay hit back with goals from Maximiliano Araujo and Canobio to move ahead before Helio Varela rescued a valuable point for the Islanders with a second-half equaliser.
Ranked 63rd in the world, Cape Verde now head into their final group match against Saudi Arabia knowing a victory would secure a historic place in the Round of 32.
“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.
The Cape Verde coach praised his team’s character after they recovered from falling behind against one of the tournament’s favourites.
“More important than the result is to be able to show our identity as a team, our strength, our unity, and also our resilience,” he added.
Bubista believes his players have earned the right to dream of qualification after collecting two impressive draws from their opening matches.
“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,” he said.
“We want to show the entire world that we are in the condition to fight for qualification, and I think that’s what we showed today. At this point, all we are thinking about is to qualify for the next round.”
With four points from their opening two matches, Cape Verde are now one win away from completing one of the biggest stories of the World Cup so far.