Cape Verde hailed by Argentina as fairytale run ends in close call

Debutants Cape Verde have been the revelations of this World Cup after drawing with former world champions Spain and Uruguay and then taking holders Argentina to the brink in the last 32 on Friday.

Their 3-2 extra-time loss to the champions could easily have gone the other way and Lionel Messi and Co. knew they had been in a real fight in Miami.

"They kept coming back at us and it got difficult. It was a struggle," Messi, who netted his seventh of the tournament with the opener to retake the lead in the Golden Boot race, told reporters.

Cape Verde, a Portuguese-speaking archipelago off the coast of West Africa, were among four debutants at this expanded 48-team World Cup.

But while Jordan, Uzbekistan and Curaçao largely struggled, Cape Verde looked the part from their first game as they deservedly held European champions Spain 0-0. They qualified for the knock-outs as a second-placed team, avoiding the back door third-placed option.

The Blue Sharks have made a mockery of accusations from purists that allowing smaller footballing nations to qualify fro the World Cup would affect the product. Instead they have been the stars of the show.

"Most of the players were cramping up because it was such a hard game," Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez, who netted for 2-1 in extra-time, told FIFA while Enzo Fernandez added: "We suffered a lot in this game. It was a very tough and physical game and it became an uphill battle."

Praise from the world champions did not dull the pain of exiting the global stage, especially as Cape Verde rocked the Albiceleste by levelling for 1-1 through Deroy Duarte on the hour.

The team made up a players plying their trade in mostly unglamorous leagues then equalized again in extra-time through Sidny Lopes Cabral and only lost due to Diney Borges' own goal on 111 minutes.

"Our team did everything we could to win the game," Cape Verde keeper Vozinha said. The 40-year-old had become one of the stories of this World Cup thanks to his heroics against Spain and tears on the pitch, which led FIFA to bring his mother out to the tournament.

Ireland-born Pico Lopes, who only became a member of the Cape Verde squad thanks to Linked-In messages he initially ignored, summed up their achievements best.

"Nobody has to ask where Cape Verde is now," he said.