Spain enjoyed 74 percent possession, attempted 27 shots, eight of them on target, but failed to find a way past veteran goalkeeper Vozinha. His seven saves against the European champions have turned him into one of the early heroes of the tournament. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

“We have a lot of matches that are completely uninteresting.”

When UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin criticised the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, his concerns were widely shared by the football world. More teams, it was thought, would mean more mismatches and more games struggling to justify their place.

Five days and 14 matches later, the 2026 World Cup has produced a compelling counterargument.

No team has embodied it better than Cape Verde.

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The island nation, which made its Olympic debut only at Atlanta 1996 and is appearing at its first World Cup, held Spain to a goalless draw in the same city on Sunday. Spain enjoyed 74 percent possession, attempted 27 shots, eight of them on target, but failed to find a way past veteran goalkeeper Vozinha. His seven saves against the European champions have turned him into one of the early heroes of the tournament. His Instagram following has exploded from around 56,000 to more than six million overnight.

After the final whistle, the emotion was impossible to miss.

“I feel very proud. For me, it’s an honour to represent my country,” said Vozinha, who plays in Portugal’s second division. “We do this with passion because we are from a small country. Our qualification was difficult. We knew if we worked and followed the coach’s plan, we could compete against Spain, one of the best national teams. Today, the dream came true.”

The tears had as much to do with personal struggle as football.

“I cried because I grew up with my grandparents and they passed away a few years ago. They gave everything for my life. My mother couldn’t be here because we didn’t manage the money for the visa on time. I would have liked her to be here.”

His story has become one of the defining images of the tournament’s opening week.

Among the tournament’s other debutants, Bosnia and Herzegovina marked its World Cup bow with a point against Canada, while Curacao, despite a heavy defeat to Germany, celebrated its first World Cup goal as a milestone rather than a humiliation.

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The competitiveness has extended beyond the newcomers. New Zealand, ranked 64 places below Iran, matched its opponent goal for goal, while Qatar (world No. 56) secured its first World Cup point with a draw against Switzerland (19).

Football’s increasingly confident middle class has also left its mark. Morocco held Brazil. Belgium needed an own goal to rescue a draw against Egypt. Uruguay and the Netherlands were both denied victory by Saudi Arabia and Japan.

The numbers reveal how competitive the tournament has been so far. Eight of the first 14 matches have ended in draws. Only Germany and Sweden have won by more than two goals. The fears of a tournament overrun by one-sided scorelines are yet to materialise.

The expanded World Cup was expected to expose the gulf between football’s elite and everyone else. But the opening week has highlighted a shift in the global game. The traditional powers continue to possess greater talent and deeper squads, but the gap beneath them is shrinking fast. Better coaching, improved player pathways and greater access to elite football have created teams that are tactically organised, physically prepared and increasingly comfortable against opponents of stature.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente experienced that reality first-hand. “They’re very well organised; they sat deep as a unit, and it was very difficult to create space,” he said after the draw with Cape Verde. “In this World Cup there’s extreme equality and difficulty. This team was clearly inferior to us, but they did the things they had to do well.”

This may yet become the defining theme of the expanded World Cup.

On Sunday, 13 football associations, including debutants Cape Verde, Curacao and Uzbekistan, issued a joint response to Ceferin’s criticism. “For our countries, there is no such thing as an unimportant World Cup match,” the statement read. “To suggest that these matches are somehow less important is deeply disappointing and fails to recognise the efforts, sacrifices and aspirations of players, coaches, clubs, football leaders and supporters across the world.”

The first week of the tournament has given considerable weight to their argument.

For countries that have spent years trying to reach this stage, there is no such thing as an unimportant World Cup match. Five days into the tournament, they have made sure that Ceferin and the rest of the world are also paying attention.

Published on Jun 16, 2026