A World Cup match we'll never forget

There is but one sport that can transcend a simple viewing experience into an out-of-body pilgrammage in search of a higher power, only an inevitable deity having the answer to what your eyes are seeing. One sport that can write you a love letter so intricately crafted, you’re left wondering if one can even be worthy of receiving such affection. The footballing great Pele called it “o jogo bonito,” you might know it as “the beautiful game.” Fleeting memories, fervent cultures, storied narratives—entire nations resting their hopes on one kick of a ball. Only football can effortlessly interweave such a complex web of dynamics into a product on the pitch that entertains like the biggest of blockbusters on the grandest of stages. As Cape Verde’s Sidny Lopes Cabral tucked a masterpiece of a goal into the top-right corner, curling a dagger into the hearts of the reigning world champions and their 60,000+ fans in attendance in Miami, the idea of a just reality seemed to vanish. Lionel Messi was on the brink of an early World Cup exit to a country with a population of only 500,000, competing in their tournament debut. He and his teammates could only manage a stunned look as Lopes Cabral sprinted past teammates and coaches, hands on his head in disbelief, to vault into the stands. He wanted nothing else more than his girlfriend’s embrace after immortalizing himself with the strike. Fittingly, there is perhaps no better emotion to embody the greatness of the beautiful game than love—an all-empowering feeling of enamorment, care, and sometimes obsession. While Lopes Cabral would inevitably be toppled, Argentina and Messi surviving late into the depths of extra time, the images of his worldie, his reaction, his ensuing celebration—the feelings we all felt while taking the moment of the goal in—are what will remain in the forefront of history.

After a mind-melting upset effort saw Cape Verde draw level with reigning World Cup titleholders Argentina in extra time thanks to Lopes Cabral’s goal of the tournament (surely nothing is beating this), Lionel Messi provided a lifeline assist on an 111th minute corner kick to save the day. Credited as an own goal against defender Diney Borges, the eventual winner came off the head of Argentinian defender Cristian Romero thanks to Messi’s delivery—giving his side a 3-2 lead they’d take to the final whistle. Messi provided the match’s opener in the 29th after a lovely touch to bring in a long ball, poking it over tournament darling Vozinha for the finish. Deroy Duarte leveled the scoreline in the 59th minute; Cape Verde’s keeper would do well to hold the result through the end of regular time. It looked as if Argentina might pull away after Lisandro Martinez put them ahead a mere three minutes into the extra period, but Lopes Cabral’s 103rd minute golazo flipped the tie on its head. After Messi’s corner put the world champions back up, Argentine keeper Emi Martinez would remind Vozinha why he won the 2022 World Cup Golden Glove—saving two huge chances by Cape Verde to add a penalty shootout finale to the epic. The tournament’s Cinderella story has come to a cinematic end, Argentina somehow surviving as they look ahead to a Round of 16 fixture against Egypt.

It still remains to be seen if Lionel Messi and Argentina will have to face anything other than an overwhelming-majority home crowd environment at this year’s World Cup, blue and white shirts making up more than 95% of the Miami stadium for the fixture. Obviously, with Messi playing club football for Inter Miami now nearly three years and counting, the location of the match helped. Coach Lionel Scaloni trotted out a starting XI identical to the country’s first two group stage matches, having rotated it around quite heavily against Jordan last time out. Cape Verde opted for a few changes, Lopes Cabral coming in at left back for Joao Paulo and a striker swap of Nuno Da Costa in for Dailon Livramento being the most notable.

The match got to a rather patient start, the Miami cathedral enveloping the pitch in song as Messi’s disciples stared on in hopes of the great extending his World Cup record seven-straight matches with a goal streak to eight. He’d take the ball off his teammate Thiago Almada in the 15th minute, sending a diagonal effort from the far side of the box just wide of the post—the angle too tight. After a poor challenge from Lopes Cabral, he’d send a 25-yard free kick from the left center right into the hands of Vozinha, lacking any power.

Messi would make it eight straight matches with a goal in the 29th minute, Lisandro Martinez unleashing him into the area with an incredible delivery from the center circle. Taking a delicate touch with his left, Messi lifted the ensuing shot into the top of the net with ease—absolutely nothing Cape Verde or Vozinha could do about it. The 40-year-old was timeless.

Cape Verde couldn’t get anything going across the first 45, managing just a single shot (a 9th-minute effort from captain Ryan Mendes that was blocked by a defender). The singing continued for the Argentinian faithful, midfielder Enzo Fernandez threatening a second tally on the scoresheet as the half came to a close. His long-range effort bound for the bottom-right corner was parried away by a diving Vozinha, Fernandez unable to chase down the rebound in time. The teams returned to their locker rooms with the scoreline 1-0 in Argentina’s favor.

Things started to get shaky for the world champions in the 49th minute, Almada turning over the ball after looking to counter following a Cape Verde corner kick. Lopes Cabral would look to smash a rocket towards Martinez’s goal, taking a deflection out for another corner. Midfielder Deroy Duarte would take his turn to send a thunderbolt in the 54th, Martinez diving a bit late but still able to make the save.

Five minutes later, the African underdogs would equalize. Captain Ryan Mendes dribbling down the right wing, he poked a pass through the legs of Argentina right back Facundo Medina, finding his teammate Duarte at the corner of the 6-yard box. Taking a touch to set himself up for a shot, Duarte neatly nutmegged both Lisandro Martinez and the keeper as he rolled the Trionda into the net.

Vozinha would deny the Argentinians of a quick response in the 63rd minute, stopping Messi at close range. Argentina opted for a double substitution, bringing Nico Gonzalez on for Almada and Julian Alvarez on for Lautaro Martinez.

Messi would be gifted another golden set-piece opportunity right outside the box, opposing defenders taking turns on him across the match to halt dangerous dribbles with a foul. Looking to catch out Vozinha as he continued to adjust his teammate’s wall after the referee blew the whistle for the free kick, Messi curled a left-footer towards the far corner of the goal. Somehow, the Cape Verde keeper was able to get over for the save.

Argentina kept the pressure on across the final 20 minutes of regular time. With nine left to play, Messi poked the ball over to an overlapping Nahuel Molina on the right wing, the fullback sending a ball across goal for Fernandez at the back post—awaiting a tap-in. Cape Verde center back Pico Lopez somehow managed to clear the Trionda out of play, missing the post (and an own goal) by mere inches. Next, a Messi inswinger found the head of teammate Alexis Mac Allister in the box, a defender blocking the header with his face. Vozinha would deny an effort from distance in stoppage time, Argentine substitute Leandro Paredes having a go. It seemed for a second as if the match script were written for Messi, Cape Verde gifting him another short-range free kick in the fourth minute of stoppage time—Vozinha making his seventh save of the night after the shot took a knock off Lopes Cabral. Canadian referee Drew Fischer, calling a wonderful match, made a rare error as stoppage time came to a close. Leandro Paredes’s knee crashed into Cape Verde substitute Helio Varela in a mistimed challenge outside the Argentine area, Fischer not opting for the foul and soon whistling for the end of 90 minutes.

Extra time began exactly how Argetina wanted it to, Messi delivering a 93rd-minute outswinger on a corner to Mac Allister at the front post, flicking it to the back. Suddenly, Lisandro Martinez had the ball with plenty of space to send it across the 6-yard box, Cape Verde not anticipating the shot instead that would follow. Easy as you like, Martinez placed it into the top net with his left foot—the world champions were back ahead.

The chorus of blue and white shirts resumed after their lead was reinstated, hoping to will their side to a clincher. Cape Verde admirably took the goal on the chin, pressing up and earning themselves three corners in the following five minutes, albeit leading to nothing.

Sidny Lopes Cabral would become immortal in the 103rd minute, chopping the ball past Argentina’s Mac Allister on the left wing as he cut inside. The Trionda’s momentum setting him up fantastically, Lopes Cabral reared back his right leg and went for goal. From the second it left his boot, everyone watching—in Miami or from afar—could see the gift we were about to unwrap. Nestling orgasmically into the top-right corner, the Cape Verde left back could only place his hands on top of his head in disbelief, there was no other reaction that served this moment better. He’d scored the goal of the tournament, perhaps the goal of the decade—tying up the match with goliath Argentina.

Messi and Co. could only look on in horror as the first half of extra time petered out, perhaps this was the end of the road for the little Rosario man.

In the 111th minute, substitute Nico Gonzalez burst through a gap in the final third, slaloming around a Cape Verde defender as he readied a shot—Diney Borges clearing it out for a corner at the last second. Up stepped Messi to take it, nine minutes away from an ill-inducing penalty shootout to decide the fate of his international career swansong. He wouldn’t let it get that far. With his left foot, he picked out the head of center back Cristian Romero, the ball taking a touch off Borges before it found of the net. The all-time great had pulled a go-ahead goal out of the fire.

Lightning would nearly strike twice with four minutes left to go in extra time, Lopes Cabral sending a curling, dipping effort from a free kick on the left wing towards goal—Martinez skying to miraculously get his fingertips on the ball and send it over the bar. Argentina were desperate to escape the match, Mac Allister and substitute Nicolas Tagliafico prolonging proceedings with supposed cramp issues, the latter requiring a replacement jersey from the training staff. Cape Verde would have one final chance in the 119th minute, right back Steven Moreira tracking up into the attacking third to send a cross into the middle. Diney Borges would get a head onto it from the center of the box, directing it towards the bottom-left corner of the goal as teammate (and substitute) Gilson Tavares gave chase. Extending his right leg all the way out to try and tap in the finish over a diving Martinez, Tavares’s boot would come less than a yard short of the Trionda. The Argentine keeper parried the ball out of danger, bringing home the win for his country and keeping Messi’s last dance alive.

Argentina would’ve lost without the brilliance of their talisman Messi. Without his two hockey assists off corners and an out-of-this-world first touch and finish on the opening goal, the reigning World Cup champions would have been sent home. It’s as simple as that. I’ll also give credit to both keeper Emi Martinez and center back Lisandro Martinez (no relation). The former took a while to make an impact on this match—allowing the goal of the tournament off Lopes Cabral’s 103rd-minute moan-inducer—but his two saves across the final ten minutes of extra time were incredibly key. Lisandro Martinez notched himself a goal and assist, his delivery to Messi for the opener in the 29th minute especially insane. The rest of this side has a lot of inward reflection to do ahead of their Round of 16 tie against Egypt. What are Lautaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez doing at striker? Despite being world-class for their clubs Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid, respectively, these fellas have gone missing at multiple World Cup tournaments. Thiago Almada offered nothing of substance before he was replaced by Nico Gonzales, a rather ho-hum day for him off the bench. Alexis Mac Allister contributed nothing of note aside from his headed assist. I wasn’t impressed by anyone off the bench, perhaps Scaloni should give Matchday 3 standout Giovanni Lo Celso another go. Argentina faced adversity for the first time all tournament in this match—and it will only get harder from here. Egypt and star Mo Salah await them in Atlanta.

Cape Verde deserve a heroes goodbye (do those exist—or are they only reserved for welcomes?) Just an incredibliy resilient performance from a side counted completely out of this fixture before it even began, not flinching a muscle to claw back from two seperate deficits and drag Argentina all the way to the deep end of extra time before they could escape. Goalscorers Duarte and Sidny Lopes Cabral took their chances wonderfully, both able to say they scored on the world champions at the World Cup for the rest of their lives—Lopes Cabral can embellish his strike however he wants, well-deserved. Vozinha has cleared 20 million Instagram followers following the conclusion of his eight-save performance, a footballing legend the world will remember fondly for years to come. If there’s anything to critique for Cape Verde it would be the lack of a clinical #9, Da Costa rather poor in the start and Livramento failing to offer much else in his place off the bench. Coach Bubista will lead the national team back home to Africa, surely partying for the days, weeks, and months to come. Bravo, Cabo Verde, bravo.

Lionel Messi extends his streak to four straight MOTM awards after his unbeatable corner kick deliveries were enough to stave off terrifying upset effort. Lost in the fray of extra time and Lopes Cabral’s goal was Messi’s opener—a routine finish for the all-time great, a Puskas contender for anyone else that could manage.

Sidny Lopes Cabral scoring the goal of the tournament. The most obvious “Duh!” yet. Goodness gracious me, we will never forget this one.

As a reminder, the match card reflects my thoughts on the entire fixture as a whole—and is comprised of the following:

Man of the Match: The man of the match will be awarded card’s player face/headshot

Aura (AURA): How much “aura” or unique atmosphere/feel that the match had

Goals (GOL): A rating of the game’s quality of goals

Entertainment (ENMT): Was the game engaging, lively, memorable?

Memes (LOL): Did the game have any funny/memeable moments?

Rewatchability (RWD): Would I watch this match again—is it worth doing so?

Emotional Investment (EMO): A rating based on how attached I was, or became, to the match

No words are left for a kicker. If we get a better World Cup match than this, I’ll cry. -E$