The fairytale of the World Cup so far certainly belongs to Cape Verde. The Atlantic archipelago, consisting of a population of just 800,000 people, have made it through to the knockout stages of the tournament on their debut.Qualifying top of their group in Africa, little was expected of Cape Verde despite besting Cameroon in the qualification process. They proved the doubters wrong in their opening game though, battling to a heroic 0-0 draw with European champions Spain. A 2-2 draw with Uruguay followed, showing that they very much belonged to this level, and in their final group game, Cape Verde held out for a third 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia.Cape Verde find out they’re in the knockout stagesImage via SkySportsTheir final result left Cape Verde sitting second in the group, ahead of Uruguay on two and Saudi Arabia on two. With Uruguay’s game against Spain finishing after their own though, and the South American side trailing by a single goal, Uruguay could have sent them down to third with an equaliser.The moment Cape Verde secured their place in the knockout stage of the 2026 World Cup ??? pic.twitter.com/nsUcOCtSRX— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 27, 2026A nervy finish for Cape Verde ???They were left waiting on the result of Spain v Uruguay to confirm their place in the knockout stages.Their reaction says it all… ? pic.twitter.com/i3FpVKTCq2— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 27, 2026Cape Verde celebrate history. ??Fans and players together after sealing a historic knockout qualification on their World Cup debut.Pure emotion. ??#WorldCupwithMicky#CapeVerde pic.twitter.com/lHSmGwh9eC— Micky Jnr (@MickyJnr__) June 27, 2026It left the Cape Verde watching the final moments of Spain’s 1-0 win over Uruguay on a phone, before eventually breaking out into wild scenes of celebration.Moments no one can ever take away from Cape Verde. ????#FIFAWorldCup | ? @FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/r6XCxhThxh— CAF (@CAF_Online) June 27, 2026What next for Cape Verde?Image via Francois Nel/Getty ImagesThe Cape Verdean national team, led by veteran goalkeeper Vozinha and captain Garry Rodrigues, will face another dream tie in the Round of 32, coming up against a fellow aging star. None other than world champions Argentina and tournament top-scorer Lionel Messi await them in the next round in Miami. That game will take place on Friday the 3rd of July.Cape Verde dressing room after making history. pic.twitter.com/gvKCDLHNMn— ??????? (@Varticoo) June 27, 2026Few will give them any hope of progressing through that tie, but then again, the statistic doing the rounds is that Cape Verde were only given a 1% chance of making it through to the knockout stages in the first place.The post VIDEO: Insane scenes as Cape Verde find out they’ve qualified for World Cup knockout stages appeared first on CaughtOffside.