A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
David and Goliath meet on a soccer pitch in Miami tonight. Cape Verde is a small African island nation that surprised everyone by making it to the World Cup for the first time ever and then qualifying for the knockout round. Their reward? Facing off against Argentina, the defending champion. And there can only be one winner. The losing team goes home. Here's NPR's Jasmine Garsd.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Cape Verde is being hailed as a Cinderella story - the smallest country to ever make it this far, guided in part by Vozinha, an extraordinary goalie. It's in large part thanks to him that Cape Verde has managed to tie every single game so far in the Cup, although they've only scored two goals. Unlikely heroes, or so the story goes. Maher Mezahi is a sports journalist who reports on African football, and he says those who know Cape Verde know...
MAHER MEZAHI: Cape Verde are a team that have really burst onto the scene in Africa over the last 10 years. What we've known on the continent is that they are no joke. They actually play good football.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
GARSD: I'm sitting outside Hazel's Cabo Rico, a food truck in Orlando, eating cachupa - a hearty stew - with co-owner Hazel DaRosa, who is Cape Verdean. She has no doubts about the greatness of her team.
HAZEL DAROSA: I don't think it's going to be a challenge. All right? I feel like our goalie, he's going to do amazing. Our defense is really good.
GARSD: OK.
DAROSA: It's Cape Verde or nothing.
GARSD: Cape Verde has shown extraordinary defense, something called parking the bus. They basically create a wall of players in front of their amazing goalie, and it's very hard to create an effective attack or even get a shot at the goal. But this is the knockout round. Tying isn't going to be enough. They need to start scoring more. Argentina, on the other hand, is the reigning champion, led by one of the best players in the world, Lionel Messi.
UNIDENTIFIED SOCCER FANS: (Chanting in non-English language).
GARSD: In Miami, at an Argentine fan rally, Alejandro Ricci (ph) has all but lost his voice. But he manages to say he came all the way from Buenos Aires.
ALEJANDRO RICCI: (Speaking Spanish).
GARSD: "I don't even have tickets to the game," he says, but he wants to support the team. He says he thinks Argentina's got this. But Cape Verde's defense is serious business. And at a recent press conference, Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni agreed.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LIONEL SCALONI: (Speaking Spanish).
GARSD: "They are a tough rival," he says. "Spain couldn't beat them. Uruguay couldn't beat them. Saudi Arabia couldn't beat them. They're going to make it hard for us."
If Cape Verde's weak spot is attack, Argentina's is what fans call Messidependencia - a Messi dependency problem. They are a well-oiled machine, and they've been high scorers in this tournament. But when you have one of the best players in the world, you inevitably rely on him a lot. He's already scored six times in this World Cup and now holds the all-time record for most goals - 19.
Now, whatever the outcome is later tonight, DaRosa says getting this far is already a major achievement for Cape Verde.
DAROSA: I know a lot of people say, oh, you guys are not even winning. What is - what are you guys celebrating? It's not about winning or losing. It's the fact that we're making it to the other round and we're putting the name on the map.
GARSD: Regardless of the final results, young Cape Verdean kids will get to dream big soccer dreams from now on. And dreaming big has made Cape Verde huge.
Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, Miami. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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