OneFootball
·16 de junho de 2026
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Yahoo sportsOneFootball
·16 de junho de 2026
When in football the underdog trips up the favorite, it’s often because they’ve had to fight with the so-called hard gloves on. Sometimes that even goes a little beyond the boundaries of what’s allowed.
The gap in skill has to be made up somehow. Any means will do, and sometimes it’s allowed to hurt. Cape Verde, the World Cup sensation so far, celebrated its upset against mighty Spain in a very different way.

Of course, there was plenty of passion and a certain toughness in the challenges, but never anything unfair. Well, not entirely. Over the course of more than 95 minutes, there was in fact one foul.
Such fair play has not been seen since records began in 1966. Given the bruisers of years gone by, it may well have been the fairest World Cup performance by any team ever. And successful, too.
You somehow can’t help but wish that this Cape Verde team’s World Cup fairy tale never ends, even if it has only just begun.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
📸 Justin Setterfield - 2026 Getty Images







































