World Cup 2026: Is the Argentina - Cape Verde match the biggest disproportion?

 Lionel Messi vs. Vozinha. It's a World Championship clash that no one expected, but one that fans are eagerly awaiting. Argentina and the Cape Verde Islands will take to the pitch of the Miami stadium on Friday at 11 p.m. Polish time. The Argentine striker, who is considered one of the best players in history, will face a goalkeeper who is 40 years old and was completely unknown three weeks ago. This clash perfectly illustrates one of the most interesting stories of this World Cup - debutants from Africa who surprised everyone by advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament. No one gave them a chance to advance from the group in which they found themselves with teams such as Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Especially after losing 0-1 to Spain in the first round, where it was expected that the Africans would get a beating. However, their second match, in which they drew 0-0 with Spain, was considered one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history, and Cape Verde themselves have not scored any points yet. Subsequent draws 1-1 with Saudi Arabia and 2-2 with Uruguay allowed them to take second place in the group and advance to the round of 16. And Argentina is waiting for them there. This clash promises to be the biggest disproportion in the history of the World Championships. Three-time world champions vs. debutants. One of the most successful teams in the world, and the current world champion, against a team that has never qualified for the World Cup before. In its history, Argentina has never missed the tournament, which took place in Mexico in 1970, and is the only national team that did not participate in this tournament. The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930, where Argentina finished second. So far, she has won the world title in 1978, 1986 and 2022. Additionally, Argentina has a record 16 Copa America wins. In turn, the history of football in the Cape Verde Islands is very short. The football association on these islands was established only in 1982, and the national team was admitted to FIFA in 1986, the same year in which Argentina won its second world champion title. Cape Verde first entered the World Cup qualifiers in 2002, but never had a real chance of advancing to the tournament. Only the qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Cup turned out to be historic for this team, as they qualified for the World Cup for the first time in their history. The Cape Verdean team found themselves in a very difficult qualifying group, which included teams such as Cameroon, Nigeria and Angola, but they still finished top of the group with only one defeat in ten matches. The values ​​of the teams are incomparable. The entire Cape Verdean national team is valued at approximately EUR 54 million, while the market value of the Argentine team alone is around EUR 800 million. Five players from the Argentine national team are worth more than the entire Cape Verdean eleven. And if we look at the starting eleven alone, the value of the Argentine team is £360 million, while the value of the entire Cape Verdean team is £19.7 million. This is an incredible difference that has never happened before in the history of the World Cup. INThere are basically no achievements in the history of football that can be compared. Sixteen players from the Argentine team are players who have already won the world champion title in the past. The players from Cape Verde have not yet won any titles at national level, and their highest-ranked achievements are titles won in lower leagues in Europe and the only Portuguese champion title in history, which was won by Jovane Cabral in the 2020/2021 season. As you can see, the differences are colossal, and for Argentina itself this clash with the Cape Verde Islands will only be a formality. However, for the African team, it is a historic day that will certainly be remembered by their fans. --- ## Related Articles 1. [World Cup 2026](https://pitchpulsemedia.com/en/news/world-cup-what-to-watch-messis-argentina-vs-cape-verde-colombia-egypt-in-action)