TAMPA, Fla. — The World Cup is underway, and one of the 48 competing teams has set up its training camp in Tampa.
Cabo Verde — a small island nation off the northwest coast of Africa, roughly the size of Rhode Island with a population of just over 500,000 — is making its first-ever World Cup appearance in the tournament's 23rd edition. The team, nicknamed the "Blue Sharks," is using the Tampa Bay Rowdies facility as its training hub. And while they may be the longest of longshots, they aren't here just to participate.
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"We are excited to go for our first game in the World Cup," defender Diney Borges said before Friday's training session. "We're coming here not just to enjoy. We are coming here to compete with everyone. We want to play against the best teams."
For goalkeeper CJ dos Santos, playing in the World Cup means taking the phrase "living the dream" to the next level.
"100 years from now people are going to look back, and they're going to look at our faces. They're going to look at our team," dos Santos said before practice. "I've been dreaming of this moment since I was two, three years old, playing in the back yard. Going into this first game, it still hasn't hit me yet. I can't speak for the other guys. It's still a bit surreal to me," dos Santos said.
Cabo Verde is the 3rd smallest nation ever to compete in a World Cup, but its fan base stretches far beyond its borders. More people from Cabo Verde live across the globe than in the country itself.
"Having that many people around the world in different time zones… it gives you a sense of pride," dos Santos added. "A sense of that strong feeling around the world. That it's not just within the country."
Their World Cup debut comes with a steep challenge: a matchup against world No. 2 Spain, one of the favorites to win the tournament.
Dos Santos said his team is ready.
"They have a lot of players that play at a really high level. But I look at my team. I look at our team. We have some really top-level players, world-class players, in my opinion. We're going to compete in every duel, every tackle, every pass. We're going to compete," he said.
Cabo Verde and Spain kick off Monday at noon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Cabo Verde's other two group-stage games are on Sunday, June 21 vs. Uruguay (in Miami, 6 p.m.) and on Friday, June 26 vs. Saudi Arabia (in Houston, 8 p.m.).
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