As the final whistle blew and Argentina’s players celebrated their impressive 3-2 victory, one of the most exciting moments of the 2026 FIFA World Cup took place on the other side of the pitch.Cape Verdean striker Nuno Da Costa stood in tears surrounded by his affected family members. Yet amid his grief after his country’s historic World Cup came to an end, Da Costa was seen comforted by his son, who was also crying.Watch:The incident had a major impact on Cape Verde’s incredible journey. The small island nation of just over 500,000 pushed defending champions Argentina to the limit in a thrilling Round of 32 clash before falling 3-2 after extra time.Lionel Messi, who scored his 20th World Cup goal, admitted Argentina had to dig deep to survive.“As this team has shown many times, and as I have said many times, it competes,” Messi said in Spain. “And we competed until the end.”Few gave Cape Verde a chance to qualify for the tournament. However, the World Cup players shocked the world of football by becoming the youngest country to reach the final, holding former champions Spain and Uruguay to a spell before pulling off one of the best games against Argentina.Cape Verde equalized twice, once in extra time, and looked set to create one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history before their goal ended.“I have to give credit to our opponents,” said Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni. “The truth is, when people say that there is no easy opponent, today (Cape Verde) played against a great team.”Goalkeeper Vozinha also played with many saves, while head coach Bubista praised his players’ courage and awareness.“We respect what our country is. We had two training games against national champions, we took extra time,” said Bubista. “More than anything else, I am proud of our players who were honored in the World Cup. We showed what we are.”Defender Pico Lopes agreed with that sentiment.“We got really close, we pushed them to the end,” he said. “But in the end, it didn’t have to be. I was disappointed… but I think we showed good character today, good character to come back two more times. They are the masters of the world for a reason. “As Cape Verde’s players remained on the field long after the final whistle, hugging each other in tears, Bubista summed up what his team had achieved.“We showed that we can be a small country,” he said, “but we can play with some of the best teams in the world.”