As a crowd of fans of Cabo Verde’s men’s national soccer team celebrated on Boston Common last Friday, an odd chant filled the air.
“We want Messi!”
Clap. Clap. Clap-clap-clap.
“We want Messi!”
It's official, Cabo Verde has advanced. Crowd in Boston went wild. Chants of "We want Messi" now that Cabo Verde is set to face Argentina @GBHNews pic.twitter.com/gZzuZFlTlc
— Esteban Bustillos (@E_Bustillos4) June 27, 2026
Cabo Verde had just finished second in its group, playing to a draw with Saudi Arabia — so the Blue Sharks would advance to the knockout stage of the World Cup. That makes Cabo Verde the smallest nation to ever do so.
Their reward? Lionel Messi and Argentina, who they play Friday.
It was another joyous moment for fans of a team that was just supposed to be happy to be here.
Hunter Dias was one of the Cabo Verdean supporters there to soak in the historic moment.
“We have so many people across the seas, across the world supporting us. And we took it home as the underdogs of the entire tournament,” he said. “We had the best opening [to a] tournament any team has ever had. This is incredible. I don’t know what else to say.”
What looked like at least a thousand people, and probably well more than that, were on the Common to watch as Cabo Verde secured their spot. It’s a continuation of the Cinderella story of the World Cup, one that started with the team shocking the world by playing to a draw with Spain in its opening match.
A big part of that stunning result was the play of Cabo Verdean keeper Vozinha. It was a performance that made him into a folk hero.
Now, he’s become a global sensation with more Instagram followers than Tom Brady. His name has become a rallying cry for Cabo Verde supporters. Fans watching the Saudi Arabia match cheered whenever his mom was shown on the broadcast.
At the Dorchester Day Parade last month, Paulo De Barros, president of the Cape Verdean Association of Boston, said that Cabo Verde “is soccer.”
“Every day, every morning, Cape Verde is about soccer,” he said. “From young kids to older kids, it’s all about soccer.”
That made the team making it to the World Cup for the first time ever meaningful, even if the team lost every game. (A difficult turn in the story came about this week when it was revealed that Cabo Verde captain Ryan Mendes is under investigation over a rape allegation in New Zealand.)
But the squad’s successes so far are unlike anything probably even the bravest Cabo Verde fan could have imagined. As fans celebrated after the team survived the group stage — advancing to the round of 32 — Darcy Guimaraes said there were a lot of emotions. He said the team fought with bravery and courage.
“Just being here, we should already be embraced, be proud of that,” he said. “Now making it to the round of 32? It’s incredible, man.”
Just making it here may be a celebration for Cabo Verdeans. But now comes the hard part.
Cabo Verde playing to a draw in each of its matches may have been enough to get the Blue Sharks here. But there’s no ties anymore. You have to win to survive. And Cabo Verde, an archipelago off the western coast of Africa, beating Messi and Argentina would be maybe the biggest upset in the history of organized sports.
But there’s plenty of reasons to celebrate this weekend. There’s Cabo Verde playing for a chance at history. Then there’s the Fourth of July. The cherry of top? Cabo Verde marks its Independence Day on July 5.
It’s bound to be a party no matter what happens on the pitch. And for Guimaraes, the hope is that this run will have a long-term impact.
“This is the youth looking and seeing what’s capable, you know?” he said. “There’s a lot of Cape Verdeans in Massachusetts overall. So the kids that’s out there playing the sport of football, they should be looking at this as motivation, as something that’s capable to reach their goal.”
