ARLINGTON, Texas — Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni has warned his players not to underestimate round of 32 opponent Cape Verde.
Scaloni’s star-studded team will face the island nation after they became the smallest country by population to ever make the knockout stage of a men’s World Cup.
Cape Verde finished second in Group H behind Spain but above Saudi Arabia and two-time World Cup winners Uruguay.
“Cape Verde didn’t surprise me, because it’s a good team,” Scaloni said after Argentina’s 3-1 win over Jordan on Saturday night.
“It’s a tough opponent, one that already made things difficult for Spain, one of the favorites, as well as for Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. It’s a fast team with quality.”
Read more:Cape Verde become smallest nation to make World Cup knockouts
Cape Verde’s population of 525,000 inhabitants is smaller than all 50 U.S. states, with Wyoming the closest with a population of 576,000.
Already they have gone further than the only smaller nations by population to reach the World Cup. Curaçao and Iceland were both eliminated after the group stage in their sole appearances in 2026 and 2018, respectively.
“We always focus on ourselves, any opponent is tough,” Guiliano Simeone said after Argentina’s win over Jordan. “We have to try to do maximum damage to the opponent with our best weapons.”
Lionel Messi‘s side finished atop Group J with nine points after defeating Algeria, Austria and Jordan to conclude the first round undefeated.
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“We achieved the first goal, which is to advance to the next round, and now we’re going for more,” Lautaro Martínez said. “Starting tomorrow, we’ll prepare for the match against Cape Verde.”
La Albiceleste will head back to their base camp in Kansas City to train before traveling to Miami, Florida for the round of 32 match on July 3.
Information from the Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.
