A win in the World Cup for Cape Verde on Friday would make it one of only a handful of African teams ever to make it so far in the tournament. It would be the smallest nation ever to do so. And it would mean that it had beaten Argentina, the defending champions, in what would surely be one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s history.
In other words, the pressure is on.
But on the streets of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, any suggestion of stress meets a shrug and a chuckle. Sure, a supercomputer that predicts the outcomes of soccer matches gave the country a one-in-20 chance of victory. Yes, Argentina is led by Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest player of all time and, as of Friday morning, the record-holder for most goals scored in World Cups.
No matter. From schoolchildren kicking balls in alleys to retired professional players, Cape Verdeans are confident in their team and unbothered by the odds. Here on this tiny archipelago of about half a million people, “No Stress” is a way of life. It is printed on souvenir T-shirts and football jerseys lining shop windows, woven into the lyrics of local songs blasting from roadside bars and emblazoned on buildings in vibrant neighborhood graffiti.
“We say ‘no stress’ because it is our way our life,” said Pedro Bettencourt Jr., the president of Escola Prática de Iniciação ao Futebol, or EPIF, a sporting nonprofit in Praia that supports young people. Some former members play on the national team.
“It means we are calm and easy going,” Mr. Bettencourt continued. “But it also means prepare well, be humble and go and play and win.”
Cape Verde’s national team began to distinguish itself, especially among African competitors, a little over a decade ago. At the time, it topped a group in the Africa Cup of Nations that included Egypt, which has won the tournament a record seven times. That debut for Cape Verde set off a run of successes. Last year, it pulled off a sensational World Cup qualification, defeating the likes of Cameroon, a fixture at World Cups for decades and a five-time winner of the African tournament.
On a narrow street in Praia on Tuesday, behind the bustling Sucupira Market, the largest open-air market in the country, few people seemed to have those stakes in mind. Five men in their fifties sat around a table playing cards, barely looking up at the World Cup coverage on a television above them. They took little note as the Democratic Republic of Congo played England, and muttered only a few words of frustration when Congo squandered a chance of a potentially decisive goal in the final minutes of the match.
Sitting among them, unnoticed by most passers-by, was Graciano Tavares Lopes. Long before Cape Verde’s team became a global soccer sensation, Mr. Lopes, who is 56 and goes by Xaxane, played on the national squad.
“In our time, we played purely for the love of the shirt,” he said, pulling up a photo on his phone of his younger self wearing the national colors. “A pair of boots would be shared between six or seven players. Now it is different. The group stage went very well, but now we’re up against Argentina, who are a very tough side.”
That was not to say that he was stressing about it.
“I’m confident we’ll get a good result,” Mr. Lopes added.
Fiifi Anaman, a Ghanaian soccer historian who has tracked Cape Verde’s rise, said the team’s performance in this year’s World Cup “has been so fascinating to watch.”
“They are such a talented and well-organized side,” he said. “They have lost only once in their last 13 games. If punching above one’s weight in football was a team, it’d be Cape Verde.”
Across Europe, the rosters of elite soccer clubs have in recent years increasingly included players who immigrated from Africa or who were born to African immigrants. For this year’s World Cup, many African countries drew on such players for their national teams. None have done so more than Cape Verde, which has nearly as many of its citizens living in the United States as in the entire archipelago.
The international nature of its lineup has contributed to the team’s worldwide fan base, but it isn’t the only reason for Cape Verde’s success.
On a warm Thursday afternoon, Mr. Bettencourt, 70, was barely visible among a sea of EPIF trainees of ages 7 to 12. They crowded around him in a small stadium in southern Praia.
In the past, EPIF had to plead with parents to enroll their children in its programs, Mr. Bettencourt said. “Now we have a problem,” he continued. “We have more than 300 athletes, boys and girls. And every session, a new one joins.”
Some of the organization’s former enrollees have gone on to national fame. At least six players representing Cape Verde in this year’s World Cup are EPIF alumni. Some have also attracted unfavorable attention, including Ryan Mendes, the national team’s captain and top scorer, who has come under investigation by the police in New Zealand over allegations that he raped a woman in March.
In a statement released to The Athletic in relation to the allegations, a representative of the world soccer governing body FIFA said that it “takes any allegation of misconduct extremely seriously,” that it was in contact with the New Zealand authorities and that it could not comment further at this stage.
Mr. Bettencourt declined to comment on the investigation, saying that he did not have all the facts, but he said that teaching respect and discipline was a central tenet of EPIF’s mission.
Liam, 10, who plays for the EPIF soccer academy, said he was “learning to be respectable to others and to be a better professional” because he wanted to make his father — and his favorite player, Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal — proud. He calmly predicted a 1-0 win for Cape Verde against Argentina.
Graezy, 12, said she had enrolled in the academy because she loved the sport, adding, “Boys should not have the exclusive right to play soccer.”
Both dreamed of one day representing the country on the pitch. But Mr. Bettencourt wasn’t worried about that. Stocking the national team isn’t his top priority, he said.
“We don’t just want to build good athletes like Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo,” he said. “We shape our athletes to be good citizens who respect women and love their country. And intrinsically, the hard work and humility comes with no stress.”
Andre Amaral contributed reporting.
